Final Fantasy Omega
by Sky Bolt
Summary: A Final Fantasy style story crossed with an original world I created. I'm including all of the classic FF stuff as you'll see at the start of chapter 1. Read & Review please. Chapter 26 up! Back from another long, unannounced hiatus. More updates soon!
1. New Beginnings

Final Fantasy Omega

This story is something that I came up with to go with the Final Fantasy like world that I made up. To make it more like FF I've decided to include all of those little things that all FF games include. These are:

•Heroes  
•Villains  
•Monsters (Tonberry, Cactuar, Malboro)  
•Magic  
•Medieval style combat (swords and stuff)  
•The names Cid, Wedge and Biggs  
•Chocobos  
•Summoning (of sorts (Ifrit, Shiva and Bahamut))  
•A main character that is a warrior with an element related name. Someone else pointed this out to me. (Eg. FFVI: Terra - Earth, FFVII: Cloud – Water, FFVIII: Squall – Wind)

Chapter 1

A girl lay on a hillside overlooking Lao Bay. Clouds lazily drifted across the bright blue sky and ferries were busy on their usual routes to and from the crowded port city of Andandrea. The city lay just to the north, and being the largest city in the world it was no wonder that so many adventures had started there. The girl, whose name was Mist, lazily tilted her head back to watch a gap in the thin white cloud where the sky could still be seen. She was lost in her own thoughts just enjoying the wonderful day.

As such, she was completely unaware of the dark figure soaring above the clouds. As it meandered aimlessly, it pondered where it should unleash its long built up rage. It had been imprisoned for an age and now it hungered for vengeance.

Vengeance against the world.

As Mist entered the city through the south gate, she began to grow concerned. The faces she saw around her were confused and scared. Andandrea was also the most multi-cultured city in the world, so members of every race lived there, Human, Viera, Bangaa, Elf, Dwarf, Fairy, Golem, Nu Mou and Moogle. The races were collectively called Humanoids, for it was historically accepted that Humans were the first race to exist.

When Mist saw that a Bangaa was scared, she became much more worried.

"Mist, over here!" came the call of a familiar voice. She felt a wave of relief, now she could get some answers.

"Hey Lani! Hey Zan! What's going on?"

Mist, Lani and Zan had played together since they could walk. Lani was a Viera with snowy white fur. She had radiant golden hair down to her shoulders and bright, inquisitive amber eyes. She always wore a similar outfit, a plain colored shirt, pale rose today, with three buttons at the neck, undone in her messy fashion, and faded jeans. She always had her quiver over her right shoulder, even if she didn't have her bow or any arrows.

Zan was a roguishly handsome Elf. His tanned skin, slick emerald hair and deep blue eyes often made Mist's imagination wander. She was much too shy to say that she liked him, and he never seemed to notice the way she looked at him. Zan's clothes were always neat yet casual; he looked as if he was ready for an inspection and just lounging around at the same time. Today he wore a sky blue shirt, buttoned neatly, and caramel pleated pants. Standing together, he and Lani looked like a very odd pair.

Mist herself was a Human. She had short, misty, pale blue hair, which her parents were surprised at when she was born because they had chosen the name long before. Some people thought that when coincidences like that occur in ones life that they are destined for important things, but Mist didn't believe that. She also had a cat like face; her pointed nose, slim mouth and bright, intelligent green eyes often made people say as much. She wore a plain, sleeveless, off-white top and dark green three quarter shorts.

Mist had made her way through the murmuring crowd to her friends, who were standing by one of the numerous plain, sandstone houses in the city. It was a wonderful city; the salt spray from the port gave the streets a seaside feeling all the way to the eastern side of the city. Gulls hung around everywhere and sailors from the many ships frequently at the port wandered the city during their brief time on land. The full effect of these factors meant that the city was pleasant yet crowded by all of the visitors and the locals doing business.

The crowd was packed tighter than usual, making it quite hard for Mist to navigate her way through. The people didn't pay her much notice, buried in their own thoughts and worries. Mist waited for openings in the crowd instead of bothering the living maze of people.

"Well?" she quietly reiterated after finally reaching her friends.

"Someday you're going to have to learn to be more authoritative," Lani told her, "What's going on is the temples aura is fading."

"But that's impossible!" Mist gasped. The Grand Temple of Andandrea lay in the centre of the city and according to historians it had been made by the magic of immensely powerful sorcerers ages ago. The magic used in its creation meant that the temple gave off an aura that restored magical energy.

"But it is possible and it's happening right now," Zan interrupted, "The high priestess thinks that the aura will completely fade within a couple of months."

"What caused it? How could this happen so suddenly?" Mist asked.

"No one is sure," replied Lani "But the High Priestess said that it must have been evil, and it must have been powerful. That's what caused the fear."

"Let's check it out. I've gotta know more," Despite Mist's shy nature, she was always more inquisitive than was good for her.

"Can't. The temple's off limits to anyone but officials and priests," was Zan's simple reply.

"Then I guess we'll have to avoid being seen," Mist said with a hint of mischief on her face. She was shy, but if it meant finding out what was going on with the temple then Mist was ready to take the risk.

The night air was filled with the familiar smell of wood fires from the many kitchens and fireplaces in the city, their own homes among them. Their parents hadn't liked the idea of them going into the temple under the current circumstances, so the trio had changed their story and left any way. As far as their parents knew, they were watching the stars from their favourite hilltop spot south of the city.

The temple was an awe inspiring building, seven tiers of stone two meters tall, all apparently made of the same block of smooth white stone. At the top was a square plateau framed on either side by plain white pillars and covered by a stone roof. The plateau was about six by seven meters and furnished with simple items for the High Priestess' use in ceremonies and blessings.

The trio prepared to enter the temple. Having lived in the city all their lives, they knew their share of secrets. One of which was a slab of stone behind the temple. Though it looked like all of the other slabs around it, after a guard passed a corner, the three of them moved to the slab swiftly, lifted it and vanished silently beneath the city. As the group landed and the slab was placed back in its slot the tunnels that it lead to became pitch black.

"Fire!" Mist called in a hushed voice.

A ball of fire was summoned to Mist's outstretched hand. A look of deep concentration crossed her face. The trio began walking through the musty labyrinth that they had discovered when they were twelve.

Zan was eighteen now but Mist and Lani were only a month from being eighteen themselves. The two of them were born only one day apart, Lani being the elder one.

They followed a path that they all remembered from their constant exploring over the years. They took the first right, the second left, the fourth left then the second right and so on. The tunnels seemed to be made from the same stone as the temple above, as if a large square mole had dug them.

There was a dusty and stale smell in the tunnels. It wasn't the smell of something dead; that would be unlikely since the slab was one of only two ways into these tunnels, neither of which were known let alone used by anyone regularly. And it was cold in the tunnels except for the slight warmth of the fireball. They kept going a little faster to be done and get back to their warm homes just that bit sooner.

As they continued, Mist could tell what everyone had been talking about earlier that day. The odd tingling sensation of the aura that could always be felt in the temple was fainter than usual. It felt scary.

Mist gasped and spun to face a side tunnel to her right. She thought that she had seen a shadowy figure duck around a corner but it was probably just Zan's shadow since he was on her right.

"You're a little jumpy. Don't tell me you're scared?" Lani's words echoed down the stone hallways. She had immediately got the others attention because that was the first thing any of them had said since Mist had called the fireball, still at the end of her outstretched hand.

"Let's just hurry and get out of here, okay?" was Mist's timid reply.

When the trio reached the end of the maze after more uneventful left and right turns, they came to what looked like a dead end. The wall in fact slid away to reveal a stairwell. They climbed the eight flights of stairs, passing a door at the fourth that they had never been able to open. The door was wooden and had a very aged appearance. They had tried pulling, pushing, magic and even silly passwords but nothing had worked. This time was no different. The door didn't even budge one bit, not that they had expected it to.

At the top, Lani placed a sensitive, Viera ear to the stone slab at the end of the steps, which could be removed to access the temple plateau.

"…but something must be done," said a low soft voice. From what Lani could tell, it was the High Priestess Mora.

"But we don't know where to start," said a louder male voice, which was undoubtedly Mayor Falkin.

"I received word from a friend back home yesterday," Mora continued.

"What does news from Sandros have to do with this?" Mora was a Nu Mou; so being from Sandros was not so unusual, since it was the origin of the Nu Mou race.

"There were unusual sounds coming from the Mages Tower. An apprentice sorceress was found dead yesterday morning left on the steps of the tower. Some fear that it was a warning."

"There are some knights coming in to town the day after tomorrow. They were on a mission for me, so I'll have them investigate it."

"Very well. Now let us get back to what we were talking about before, about the…" the voices faded into the distance as the mayor and high priestess walked out of the temple.

"Darn it," whispered Lani. She knew very well that speaking too loudly would get her caught by the high priestess. Once at school, she had mumbled to herself that she hated having to practice with staves. Mora had walked in from another room and told her to quit complaining. At the time Mora had been a teacher of magic and magical fighting at the trio's school.

"What did you hear, Lani?" whispered Zan. His hearing wasn't nearly as good as Mora's but he knew that they had been talking.

"Are you two up for an adventure to Sandros?" she said a little louder with the confidence that Mora was probably too far to hear her now.

"I guess," Mist started, raising an eyebrow, "But what's in Sandros that would be so interesting when the temple here is acting up for the first time in over a thousand years?"

"Answers," Lani stated as if it was obvious what she was talking about.

She explained to them what she had heard as they headed back to the slab in the street behind the temple. They passed the door again on their way down the stairs but they were too busy talking quietly to notice the slight crack of unlit room beyond the slightly opened door.

* * *

Little did those children know that they had led it right to the ancient passageway of the Nine Sorcerers of ages past. The figure followed the children through the tunnels, taking a parallel path where possible so as not to be seen. That idea almost cost the figure dearly when the one with the flame turned her head, only a quick reaction prevented her from seeing too much.

Soon they continued and reached the stairwell. After the children had left the sacred door and proceeded to the top, the figure approached the door. It waved a green, scaled and clawed hand from under its all-encompassing black cloak, in a short arch. The door gave off a very faint blue light for a moment, and then it slowly and silently swung open.

Torches ignited upon the doors opening to light the room that was revealed. It was like a study; glass cases lined one wall and a bookshelf stood against another. The room was filled with ancient objects, some magical, some weapons, some armour, a statue, but the most interesting to the figure was a simple piece of parchment sitting on an antique desk which should have rotted away nearly a millennia ago.

Once it had the parchment, the figure stalked swiftly but as quietly as possible to the door and closed it far enough to not make a noise. Once it was out, the figure noted the quiet sound of speech above it and decided to make its own way back to the exit before the children came. They would never know it had been there.

* * *

. . .

I hope you all liked that. Please review so that I know I should keep going. I have already written more chapters but I need some sort of response before I'm going to post them. I'd like to thank Rurouni Saiyan for beta reading the story for me, and I doubt that it would have proper grammar if it hadn't been for her. I don't own Final Fantasy or any of it's many trademarks.


	2. With A Single Step

Chapter 2

Later that night when they returned home, their parents were very suspicious as to why the three of them wanted to go to Sandros. Mist's mother was not opposed to the idea but she saw right through the lies.

"You went to the temple, didn't you?" she asked Mist in a tone more sad than angry. She had a very plain beauty about her; wavy brown hair, bright blue eyes and soft, plain skin that had creased slightly to betray a deeper worry.

"Don't worry so much about me, mom. I'll be fine. We're travelling together." Mist told her mother, trying to comfort her. Her mother got worried over the slightest things sometimes. She didn't have to answer about the temple; her mother already knew that she was right.

"I guess there's no reason you can't go, just be careful Mist." Her father added. "You know that you're our only child and that we don't want to lose you. So watch out for each other out there and come back to us in one piece, alright?" He was a kind man, with short brown hair, the same colour as his short, bristly beard. His eyes were green like Mist's but older and a little less bright.

Mist went to pack what she could for the next day. The three friends had agreed what each of them would bring, as though their parents had already given them the OK. Then she went to bed to get some rest for the day ahead.

* * *

Lani's mother was more interested in the previous nights activities.

"You told me that you were stargazing south of the city. I am very disappointed that you lied to me like that." Her mother told her. She was a tall woman, her Viera fur was almost halfway between white and brown; her eyes were like a pair of sapphires, blue, bright and sharp. She always seemed to get answers if she looked at someone the right way, just intimidating enough to cause them unease but not enough to scare them away. Lani wasn't about to escape this argument.

"We only wanted to know what's going on. Nothing bad happened, and I'm going to find out what's happening in Sandros." Lani told her mother forcefully. She rarely stood up to her mother like that but she was too excited about the idea of seeing more of the world and travelling with her friends to be stopped here. She looked at her mother expectantly, growing redder in the cheeks as what she said began to hit her.

The three friends had agreed to say that they had heard 'something' about Sandros but not mention specifics or they might scare their parents. Her mother rolled her eyes and turned away. "Fine. Anyway, I don't want you hanging around here sulking that your friends got to go on an adventure and you didn't." she told Lani, who leaped up and hugged her around the neck before going to pack her things, then she too got some rest for the next day's travel.

* * *

Zan's parents were more reasonable about what was going on.

"I didn't think that you'd give up on going to the temple so easily." His father said. "I suppose you want to go with the girls to Sandros now?" His father was handsome like Zan, with similar but more mature features and brown hair.

"Yes. We all want to leave tomorrow morning so that we can reach our old campsite by evening." Zan told his parents.

His mother had pure ivory skin, as many elfin women did, with hazel eyes and long, emerald hair. "I don't see why we shouldn't let you go since you let us know about this instead of just running off like you did tonight. Don't think that we'll forget about that. I know that you'll be responsible since you always are. But have fun and be careful." His mother told him.

"Thanks. I will." Zan told her. He was a very mature young man and his parents were trusting of his judgement and choices. He went to gather what he would need for the journey and, just like the others, he went straight to bed to get a good night's sleep.

* * *

The next day, in the twilight glow before dawn, the friends went to a shop on the north side of the city so that they could stock up on supplies. The gulls hadn't woken yet and the only sounds to be heard were the crash of waves on the shore and the creaking of ships at the dock. The ferries wouldn't be leaving on their daily routes for at least an hour yet.

They would need to buy potions and ethers, and due to the area that they were travelling in, antidotes as well. The forests on the continent of Cyndaria were known for their venomous creatures. Once they had their provisions they checked one last time that they had everything that they needed.

Each had their pack and their pouch of gil for the trip as well as their own belongings. Mist had her short sword, her buckler and their map. Lani had her horn bow, her ever-present quiver, her bracer and their compass. Zan had his rapier, his armguard and their bedrolls.

That was it. They were ready for the journey to Sandros. They would leave that morning, before the sun was too far above the horizon. Dawn had just shone the first warm, golden rays of sunlight over the city walls.

The three of them had often camped in the area northeast of the city, at a spot near but not too near the forests. The first day would be like all those other times, afterwards would be an entirely new experience. Mist had never been to another city before. Lani and Zan had come from the city where their races originated but were too young when they left to remember very much. This would be entirely new for them all.

They said a final farewell to their parents who saw them off as the friends set out through the north gate into the wilderness of Cyndaria.

After 10 minutes of walking, the adventurers reached a hill where they had often played when they were very young and stopped to remember some of the fun adventures that they had had on that tiny mound of grass.

"Remember when we thought that we'd found a pile of gold?" asked Lani in a cheerful giggle. She sat down on the top of the hill, her legs nearly reaching the bottom.

Mist thought back to those days. She remembered them very well; the carefree attitude, the cute clothes that they had worn and the hours of fun. "Yeah, and it turned out to be just clay. I wish it had been gold though. Do you guys remember all of the things we were going to buy?" Mist responded, drifting back into reminiscence.

"Yes. You wanted to buy the temple for your home," replied Zan in a blunt yet obviously amused tone. He nearly started laughing, but that wouldn't have been very nice, considering that he had thought of some strange things to buy then too.

"We were young. Not a care in the world. I wish we could have that time again." Mist seemed not to care about the attempted criticism of her childish dreams.

The hill was tall in comparison to its width of less than two meters. It had a small stone cave in the back where the children had hidden when they didn't want to leave. Their parents couldn't reach far enough in to pull them out but they always found a way to make them come out. The trio had never wanted to leave, but this time they weren't there to play; they had to move along. That was all in the past and they were too old to be thinking like little children. That and they couldn't fit in the cave anymore. They were off on their own now, alone in the wild.

* * *

It was getting late before they found their old campsite. It was a cleared patch near a small thicket of trees just south of the forest border. There was a blackened patch surrounded by stones, which had always been used by campers for fires. But what they hadn't expected was a pair of lupine hounds to be resting there. They heard the trio approaching and got up to defend their territory. This presented an opportunity to the friends that they had considered earlier. Combat practice. They dropped their packs and drew their weapons.

The lupines looked like normal dogs but much more vicious. The most noticeable difference was that their tongues always stuck out a few inches below their jaws, constantly dripping drool. Their eyes were focussed on anything that came close, anything that they could hunt. There were many different types of lupine too. These ones were the Viper Hound variety, called so because of their poisonous bite.

The hounds began to approach slowly, splitting up to come from either side. Mist and Zan took up defensive stances and Lani, who stood between them, nocked an arrow. The lupines came around to stop on opposite sides, ready to pounce. But Lani struck first, loosing her arrow at the one on her left, Zan's side. The arrow struck it in the upper leg but it didn't seem to notice very much. It leapt right at Zan who held his rapier out to spike it. The hound went right towards the sword but merely scratched its face and glanced off to reassess its prey. On Mist's side, the hound crawled in closer and once it was in her range she took an aimed swipe at it. The lupine ducked and just took a nick to its ear. Then it leapt at Mist's leg while she was open, only to be struck in the shoulder by an arrow as Lani spun, nocked an arrow and almost immediately fired. The arrow whooshed past Mist's waist and had it been an inch to the right it would have hit her.

"That was too close for comfort!" Mist shouted at Lani over the deep growls of the lupines.

"So. I hit it, didn't I?" She retorted.

The hounds drew around to the front again, guessing that they had better odds together. Lani nocked another arrow and Zan held his rapier in a ready position but Mist sheathed her sword.

"What are you doing?" Zan asked in a confused and concerned tone.

"Practicing my magic." Mist replied as she held her hand out straight. She pointed her index finger and middle finger up, with her palm down and curled the other fingers in.

"Thunder!" She called as she flicked her extended fingers down. Momentarily a rumble and flash occurred in the air above the hounds and then a bright bolt of lightning struck them. It appeared to come from nowhere, but it was from the same spot as the flash and sound.

The hounds were hurt and obviously confused because they turned to see where the attack had come from, leaving their backs exposed. Lani fired at the back of the one on her right, scoring a hit to its neck, killing it instantly. The other turned back but not fast enough to stop Zan from stabbing it through the heart.

The dead forms slumped to the ground and just as they stopped moving they turned into dark shadows of their former bodies and began to dissipate into smoke. Where the creatures had fallen, there was now a small pile of items. Firstly were a few gil; there were also a couple of fangs on a string, which was a pendant that could protect against poison. There was a potion as well that would be helpful. A potion was a small green ball of magical fluid, when injured you could press the surface to break the ball and release the fluid to pour on the injury or to drink if you aren't externally injured. Potions tasted like most medicines, a good incentive not to get injured, particularly not internally.

Once they were done the group gathered their belongings and set up for the night. The warm, orange glow of sunset shone out west above the distant hills of the surrounding plains so they needed to get a fire started soon.

"No problem. All we need is some wood and I can use magic from there," suggested Lani. So the trio found some broken branches and leaves and built a small pile in the fireplace. Lani concentrated and held out her hand.

"Fire!" she called and a fireball leapt immediately from her hand to the wood in front of her. The flames began crackling and smoking and settled into a regular fire.

"Alright, now we can eat!" said Mist almost drooling as she looked at Lani's pack. Lani had been trusted with the food because she wouldn't sneak little snacks like the other two would.

"OK, just remember that we have to ration the food we have to last us the whole trip. I couldn't carry too much and if you wanted snacks then you should have packed them yourself," Lani told her.

They had a dinner of cooked vegetables that Lani had packed for the first night, knowing that they wouldn't last too long. The rest of the rations were mainly dried meat and fruits, bread and rice. Zan was carrying six bottles of water for the same reason as Lani having the food. She didn't eat very much, ever, and his body required water less often and he wouldn't sneak a drink every now and then. Mist was carrying the non-perishables; tools, pots, bowls, cups, spoons and most of the Items, but they each had a few Items of their own.

Zan laid out the bedrolls near the light and warmth of the fire. Of course he wouldn't be using his for a while yet. Since they had found two lupines in the campsite they would have to have a sentry and because of his better low-light vision and because of his natural ability to go for longer periods with little sleep, Zan hastily volunteered. He felt it his duty to protect his friends where he was better able to do so. He had a natural feeling of responsibility.

Mist and Lani lay near the fire, still too excited about their new adventure to sleep.

"Tomorrow we have to go through the Venomwood, so have you practiced that Esuna spell that I showed you?" Lani asked Mist with a slight pride in her voice, knowing that she was teaching someone. She had never really liked school since she was always being told what to do.

"I've tried but I still can't get the motions right," she replied.

Magic required three parts: capacity, motions and focus. The capacity was obvious; it was the required magical energy for the spell. The focus is simple; you merely need to think of an image or object that was specifically for that spell. Each spell had its own focus that was passed on from each generation of spell caster to the next. Finally, the motions were a series of waves of the casters arm and hand. Moving fingers and hands perfectly was the key to casting spells at their full power.

It was said that magic was split this way so that unlearned or dangerous people couldn't cast powerful magic without knowing it. One or even two parts were useless without the other or others. Humanoid magic usually worked by having the caster say the name of the spell as well, but there were exceptions to that so that was not considered a requirement for casting magic.

"It's simple. All you have to do is move your fingers like this." Lani told her and began to wave her right hand. Her index and middle finger were pointed upwards with the others curled up. She moved her fingers in a simple clockwise spiral and once they reached the centre, she tilted her hand so that her fingertips were in the same place but her palm pointed almost straight down. She then gently lifted her hand straight up and put it back by her side.

"See, simple!" she said happily. Without using the focus it also meant that the motion of a spell could be practiced without actually casting the spell.

"I guess," Mist said meekly. She was still unsure, but that spell would prove invaluable in curing a poison if one of them got hurt in the days to come. She lay back to sleep. Zan would come to wake her in a few hours to take over watch so she needed to get some rest.

* * *

. . .

I still don't own Final Fantasy or any part of it.


	3. Through The Darkness

Thank you to my, what is it, 3 reviewers thus far. I really appreciate the feedback guys. Anyone else who has been bothered to read my story up til this point has most likely read the first two chapters so review, PLEASE! For my 3 fans, read, enjoy and review.

Chapter 3

It was three or four hours from dawn when Zan woke Mist for her turn on sentry duty. Mist wasn't an early riser, so she took some convincing in the form of a pointed stick to get up. Once she was up though, she was ready to keep watch. She decided to go on a search of the area, to see if there were any creatures close by, if there was anything edible near them and most importantly whether there was a source of water. If there was water near by then they could drink more and refill their water bottles before they ventured into the forest. They hadn't had much yet but it would help if they had to go further in the next few days with no source of fresh water.

She wandered in a spiral from the campsite, which was mainly a clear patch of ground and a few trees. She passed a small hole, probably a field mouses home, a group of birds in a bush, nothing to worry about there, but as she passed the side near the forest she thought she saw a dark flicker of movement. A shiver ran down her spine and she got goose bumps up her arms. She was almost certain that she had felt something like that before, but that was just silly. After watching the length of the forest for a few minutes longer, she only saw the calm swaying of the trees. She must have imagined it.

Mist headed back to camp after finishing her rather uneventful spiral. She didn't find any water, so they would have to go with what they had for now. She hadn't expected to find any water since they had camped there before and she'd never seen a river or the like. Once she got back to the trees on the northern side of the campsite she sat and kept watch over the forest and her friends, occasionally giving a longing glance at Zan, she hoped he wasn't awake. The night slowly gave way to dawn as a soft glow crossed Mist's face and sparkled in her eyes.

It could see the girl leaning against the tree from its position just within the Venomwood. She had sensed its presence, something that had not happened for a long time. She had seen it again but would not know it, which was fortunate for her or she would not be allowed to survive. But killing her posed it's own troubles.

"She could be a problem," came the breathy hiss of the figure, but none heard it in the lonely forest save the trees and the venomous creatures that lived there.

The sun rose over the distant eastern canopy of the Venomwood as the trio prepared to continue their adventure to Sandros. Their journey took them through the northwestern side of the dangerous forest, which lay just to their north. It couldn't have been more than an hour since the sun had cracked above the trees, yet the group had already had a meagre breakfast of dried fruit, to the disappointment of Mist, gathered their gear and started walking towards the forest. They had their weapons at the ready, not knowing when a creature might attack. Lani kept an arrow nocked, ever alert as she kept watch around and behind them so that they wouldn't be caught by surprise.

They walked constantly for at least an hour. They chatted quietly and watched small critters scurry around the forest floor and up the sides of trees. Most of them were dangerous and venomous fiends, capable of infecting you with a scratch or a bite. If the need arose, Mist had used some of her time on sentry duty practicing the motions of the Esuna spell and she was feeling more confident about it.

As they continued slowly along a natural trail between the densely packed groups of trees they approached a small clearing covered in low, flat tree roots. A shallow layer of leaf litter and twigs were strewn across the ground as well. An unnaturally calm, gentle breeze blew through the trees and light broke through the canopy in a thick beam in the centre.

"Why couldn't more of the forest be like this?" Lani asked. She walked to the middle with her arms above her head and her eyes closed, taking in the warmth of the sun.

Mist and Zan joined her in the sunlight. "I dunno, but I wish it were," Mist added.

"Wishing won't make it that way," Zan put in, spoiling the bliss that the girls were imagining. They gave him miserable looks. "Sorry," he said meekly, worried that they'd turn on him. Without him the girls would certainly become too distracted. They didn't like it much when he ruined their fun with reality, but he was there to keep them grounded and focused. That's why they made such a great trio.

They heard a rustling in the bushes to one side. All three of them became serious and focused on the situation. Through the trees they could see the shapes of three creatures emerging from their environment. They were a Viper Hound and two Bite Bugs, the latter stayed out of reach near the cover of trees.

A Bite Bugs was like a giant, pale blue bee. It had little scythe like arms and a huge pointed stinger. The rest of it was just the larger version of a regular bee, except that its stinger was extremely poisonous.

The friends didn't need to say anything. They put their packs down and drew their weapons. Lani prepared to attack a Bite Bug while the other two directed most of their attention towards the Viper Hound. The Bite Bugs looked content to stay in their distant vantage points, so Lani waited for the right moment to strike instead of bringing them into the fight too soon.

The lupine moved closer, curling in to the side instead of going straightforward and leaving itself exposed to direct attacks. It was halfway around to the group's left when it moved to lunge at Mist's throat. She took a diagonal swipe at it, striking its face and forcing it to look away. Lani stepped back to let Zan lunge his rapier into the unsuspecting hound's belly. It quickly fell to the ground, cringing in pain but not quite dead. However it would not pose a threat any more.

The Bite Bugs were now moving slowly closer but staying high enough to be out of reach. Lani chose her moment to attack and launched an arrow at the closer target leaving less chance of missing. The shaft pierced the bug's lower abdomen and it fell to the ground and quickly vanished in a shadowy whiff of smoke. The other Bite Bug took the chance to swoop in low and charge at its foes.

"Aaarrgghh!" Zan cried. The bug's stinger had hit him in the arm and he had dropped his sword. Mist took a swift slash and cut the bug in two, making it vanish on the spot.

Lani had caught Zan as he fell and laid him on the ground. She immediately shut her eyes and imagined a flask of yellow liquid. She formed a spiral with two of her fingers, "Esuna," she called, and Zan began to look more relieved as a group of small columns of light rose from his arm. He was still bleeding badly so Mist broke open a potion and poured the viscous, green contents on Zan's wounded arm. The injury seemed to close up instantly.

A growl sounded behind them and all three of them turned to see the Viper Hound back on its feet, if a little unsteady. Lani lifted her bow and let an arrow fire instantly. The shot struck the lupine in the jaw and it slumped, became a shadow and vanished in smoke.

"I don't like getting poisoned very much, so let's not let that happen too often," Zan said as he got up, apparently fine now, "I'm sure that I wouldn't enjoy doing that again,"

"Which way were we going again?" Lani asked as she realised that they had turned around during the brief fight and there were several paths leading from the clearing.

"Check the compass, Mist," Zan suggested. Mist went and got a small, round, silver object from her pack's side pouch. She opened the cover and observed the small red pin inside.

"That way," she pointed towards a group of trees, "Oh. Then in that case we go that way," she said as she pointed to the adjacent path to correct herself and gathered up her pack. The other two just laughed quietly and followed suit.

Noon passed and the trio broke out water and rations for lunch. It was much the same as breakfast but they didn't mind much. They ate as they walked. They weren't willing to stop and invite creatures to come and prey on them while they were vulnerable. Though the trio had faced a few more lone creatures with little resistance, they didn't want to wait for more to meet up and attack together.

Soon after, they heard a low hiss in the distance and were caught off guard when suddenly the trees gave way to a ledge, two meters above a dark river. The river was over ten meters wide and there was canopy cover all the way along the river as far as they could see, which wasn't that far since the river went around a gentle curve back south in either direction.

"We could try to climb across using the trees. They look strong enough," Lani suggested.

"That would leave us open to attack from the many tree climbing and flying fiends here," Zan pointed out.

"Yeah," Mist agreed "And besides, we can't trust that they'll hold us unless you think that you can beat that current down there,"

At a second look, Lani realised that the river was not only dark, implying a very deep riverbed, but it was also rushing very fast, which was the cause of the hissing sound they could hear. Lani cringed at the thought of swimming in that deep, rushing river. She had never liked swimming regardless of the fact that she lived in a port city. Plus they only had one change of clothes each, so they would have to stop to let their wet clothes dry.

"So, do you have a plan?" Lani asked her, a bit sour that her idea wasn't going to work.

"We use the bridge," Mist told her in a tone that implied that it should have been the most obvious thing in the world. She was pointing to an object suspended above the river upstream.

They began walking east to investigate it, leaving a line of trees between them and the ledge in case it became unstable. When they reached the object they discovered that it was a rickety, old rope bridge, fraying in old age. Some of the boards were missing or splintered, and the foundations were dangerously close to the crumbling ledge.

"Yeah, that looks safe," Lani said with as much sarcasm as she could manage.

"It didn't look so bad from where we were before," Mist replied meekly with an apologetic smile on her face.

Lani sighed, "It's alright, but stop apologising for things that aren't your fault. I can get across if I step lightly,"

"And I believe that I can balance across the rope on the right, it seems in good condition," Zan added.

"That means that you can either walk across carefully or run across as fast as you can," Lani said as she turned to Mist, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Do you think you can do that?"

"I guess so," Mist told her with a shrug. The bridge didn't seem in that bad a condition to walk across.

"Alright, here…we…go!" Lani shouted as she did when she was about to do something impressive. She crouched, pressed a foot back behind her and leapt forward. She landed silently on a board a good two meters in and sprang to the next one with only a quiet creak from the bridge. After four more jumps she was almost there but as she leapt for the end of the bridge, she fell short, hitting a damaged board and tearing off the last three boards at that end of the bridge.

"Lani!" her friends cried in unison.

"I'm fine!" she reassured them. She had managed to grab the strong guide rope and pull herself up to the riverbank, "Piece of cake!" she said, hiding the pain that had come from colliding with the cliff edge.

"That may be a burden to you," Zan stated to Mist, gesturing at her pack "Let me carry it so that you can make that jump," That comment made Mist notice that there was now a gap over a meter long at the far end of the bridge.

"Are you sure that you can carry it?" Mist asked him.

"Of course. I can use it to balance myself," he told her.

Mist handed over her backpack and Zan began to stand on the strong guide rope with his pack in his left hand and her pack in his right hand. He stood upright and walked calmly and gracefully across the river with his arms outstretched, bags in hand. When he reached the other side and got off, the rope seemed a bit lower than it had when he started, but that was probably just Mist's fear trying to get the better of her. She prepared to step out onto the bridge…

"You'll have to run to leap over the gap!" Lani called out to her, but Mist had already come to that conclusion. She began to run.

The bridge creaked loudly under her pounding strides. She heard the crack of a board behind her and ran a little faster. The bridge swayed as she kept going and a creak and twang signalled the break of a lower support rope, the ones supporting the planks. Mist stumbled and grabbed the strong guide rope and she stared in disbelief as the wooden foundations two meters in front of her gave way. The wooden pole that had supported the right half of the bridge fell, and Mist fell with it. Her friends cried out to her as she plunged towards the river below.

Mist could feel the chill even before she touched the river. It ran up her spine and she got goose bumps down her arms. Then she hit the water and her mind began to fall into darkness.

* * *

. . .

I still don't own Final Fantasy or any part of it. (God willing, I will someday.)


	4. Heavy Burden

I got bored today and decided that for something to do I'd update my story. You may have noticed last chapter that I started giving chapters names, in the list thingy, not in the actual chapter...thingy. I'm so glad that I can write more expressively when it counts. Anyway, thanks for the reviews guys, all five of them, but I've had over a hundred hits on this story already. Come on people! If you read this then I'll presume that you've read at least one earlier chapter so please review, unless for some unapparent reason you just happened to type in a random url that brought you here (in which case you are not obliged to review, but feel free to). But no matter, all of that aside, here is...

Chapter 4

Mist stood up. She was in a dark place. She couldn't see beyond a ring of nine tall pillars encircling her at a few meters distance. On each pillar were roughly carved images. Upon closer inspection they looked like the nine races of the world. She walked towards the one that had the images of Humans on it. She ran a finger along the line of an arm. It felt worn, very, very old.

She moved past a few more pillars and stopped at the one of her favourite race, Moogles. She had always wondered what having a pompom was like. She poked the pompom of the Moogle on the pillar playfully and remembered a time when she had done that to a real Moogle when she was five. That Moogle hadn't seen what was so funny and she had run home crying, but it was funny now when she looked back. She walked on.

She continued around the circle a few times and eventually stopped at the pillar that must have been for Golems but she couldn't work it out, the lines on it didn't make sense. She began to wander around the pillar itself and realised that the whole pillar was designed to look like a Golem. She placed her hand on the pillars hand.

Suddenly the Human, Moogle and Golem pillars began glowing and three sparkling images came forth. Mist went back to the centre of the circle for a better look at them. They were very realistic images of a Human, a Moogle and a Golem.

The Human was a woman with long, wavy blond hair, bright blue eyes and pale skin. She was wearing what looked like a sorceress' robe, long, dark blue velvet with wide sleeves at the wrists and a hood drawn back. The Moogle was a male with big yellow eyes, a blue pompom and tan fur. He was wearing a sorcerers robe like that of the Human but a whole lot smaller and a pair of small teal wings protruded from the back. The Golem was another male. He was very tall, almost three meters was Mist's guess. He had a slightly ape-like appearance. The inner side of his very long arms were a pale cream but the rest of him that Mist could see, not concealed by his sorcerers robe, was olive green, including, she guessed, his big hunched back. His brown eyes blinked.

Mist gasped and fell on her butt.

"I'm sorry," came a gentle rumble from the image, "Are you alright?"

"Do not be frightened, young one," a soft, kindly voice told her. Mist turned her head and looked up at the woman, for the voice was feminine, "I am Eve," the sparkling figure said, "And these are Fenrir," she gestured to the Moogle, who nodded, pompom bouncing, "And Bahamut," she gestured to the Golem who gave a short bow.

Mist began to right herself after her ungraceful fall. "I'm pleased to meet you all," she said politely, thinking to herself that she must be mad talking to a bunch of floating illusions, "My name is Mist."

"Mist," Eve began "Your mind has taken you to the Hall of Sorcery," and suddenly the room lit up with a warm light.

Mist could now see that she was in a long, wide room. The floor had resolved into alternating cream and red diamond shaped tiles in a chequered pattern. The walls were amber around huge arching windows that were framed by royal blue curtains held back with gold tassels. Candles lit the room from polished wooden tables all around the room; their random heights and shapes gave the room a magical theme. Mist looked up to see a magnificent chandelier with dozens of candles sparkling through twice as many crystals.

The Hall of Sorcery was said to be where the Nine Sorcerers had lived and trained. These Sorcerers had been so powerful that they had supposedly even created spells here.

"I thought this place was pure myth," Mist said in awe of the amazing room.

"It is real, but no longer does it remain as you see here, kupo," Fenrir said, "This is the image of what it was one thousand and one years ago."

The Moogle flew, if you could call floating no more than three meters high while flapping his wings as hard as possible flying, to the top of his pillar and sat down. "You are here for a reason, Mist." He said in his oddly-deep-for-something-that-small voice.

"Always to the point, Fenrir," Eve told him, "She is our ally and a guest, be polite," Eve's voice had an airy sound as if she always spoke in a calm and slow manner, "I suppose explanations are in order. We, Mist, are speaking to you through your mind. You have a great potential with magic, which makes it possible for us to do so. Our bodies have turned to dust centuries ago but our minds and spirits were preserved in magic, for we knew this time would come. We have much to discuss."

"What do you mean, 'this time'? What has happened?" Mist asked, obviously very confused.

A chair formed behind Mist. It had the same sparkling appearance as the floating sorcerers. "Sit, please," rumbled Bahamut with a calm smile.

Mist was unsure as to whether she could sit on it or fall right through, but she trusted these 'people'. She couldn't take many more surprises like this standing up anyway.

"Mist," Eve started in her calm voice, "We are three of the Nine Sorcerers that lived in an age well known to those of your time. We are those who built the Temple in Andandrea, and the same ones that banished the evil and powerful creatures from the surface world. But we have bad news," Eve bowed her head.

Mist knew all these things from history lessons. These Sorcerers were the most powerful people ever to walk this world. Their magic lived on in the nine races of the world for each of the Sorcerers was from a different race. The pillars were beginning to make more sense. But Mist was bothered; anything that these people considered bad would be considered a thousand times worse by any normal persons scale.

"The most menacing of creatures, known as Omega, has managed to escape his prison in the heart of the world and is seeking revenge," Fenrir continued, "His rage may not have destroyed this world yet but if left unstopped it will."

"Omega is a dragonoid. He was thrice the size of a regular dragon, capable of intelligent thought, very advanced at magic and his hide was nearly indestructible," Bahamut added, "The only way we could defeat him was for all nine of us to seal him in the very heart of the world where his magic would be silenced, if not for good then at least so that he could not touch the world from his prison. He feeds on life energy, making it impossible for him to die of hunger or age in his prison since he could feed on the other creatures banished there."

"His magic may yet be weak and there is still a chance that he can be destroyed this time," Eve said.

"Hold on!" Mist yelled, her eyes bulging and widening as far as they could, "You're not implying that you want me to defeat him, are you?"

"We are," Eve said, still calm after Mist's outburst, "You, Mist, have a power within you that very few people in the world have, the power of Summoning. You will discover it soon enough on your quest. You must find out how Omega escaped and destroy him, or at the very least seal him away once more."

"No!" Mist shouted, standing up, "My friends and I are going to Sandros because we're curious, then we're going home. We just wanted to know why these weird things are happening, that's all. We aren't going on some epic quest. I can't fight a dragon. Choose someone else, please!" she pleaded, too scared at the prospect of what Omega could do to her world to even think about having to face him.

As she shouted, the room around her faded slowly and swirled out of sight leaving darkness behind.

"But it is your destiny. And one that you must fulfil, for the sake of us all," Eve's voice echoed faintly in the emptiness as Mist began to fall though the darkness once more, "For the sake of us all."

* * *

Mist could feel a cold breeze all over her body. Her lips were warm though. Something brushed them. Someone was kissing her! She cracked one eye ever so slightly and managed to see Zan's face. She began to blush and she knew that that would give her away so she sat up quickly.

"You're alive!" Lani said and leapt at her friend. Mist was easily knocked down, feeling as weak as a kitten.

"Ouch!" was all she managed to say.

"Sorry," Lani continued, "I'm just so relieved. We thought we'd lost you." She knelt down next to Mist who had stayed lying down to save the little energy she still had.

Lani filled her in on what had happened. They were a fair way down stream, at a sharp turn in the river where Mist had washed up. Zan had resuscitated her and Lani had bandaged her wound. Wound?

Something finally clicked in Mist's mind that she had noticed when she sat up. Her shirt was torn just above her navel and there was a bandage around her.

"Why didn't you just use a potion?" she asked, since a potion should have fixed a wound like this.

"I used two," Zan announced, "The first one didn't heal it fully and the second one didn't do anything. There must be an infection so we need to find a healer soon. There's one in Sandros so I suggest we get going."

"Mist, you should probably put on your spare clothes. These ones are soaked," Lani told her as she squeezed a small flow of water from Mist's collar.

Zan handed Mist her pack and walked off around a few trees to keep watch while Lani helped Mist get changed. She had a spare shirt that was like Lani's, but plain white, and a pair of green tracksuit pants. Once Mist was changed Lani helped her up and they began to walk.

They had to keep moving as much as possible while they were in the Venomwood. Lani helped Mist stay upright with an arm around her shoulder and Zan carried his and Mist's packs. The trio continued on their journey as Mist tried silently to puzzle out her weird dream.

* * *

The shadowy figure stood by the wreckage of the rope bridge. Its earlier sabotage had done the job. It could not sense the girl, and so it turned to the forest and vanished to seek out its treasure. It would find the treasure. Regardless of how long it took, the figure would find it.

* * *

Two men stood on the wooden dock in Andandrea. They were watching as their large, yellow birds were unloaded from the boat. The mayor had sent a messenger informing them of the mission to Sandros and they had gathered supplies for the journey.

The dock crew finished retrieving their mounts from the ships hold. "Here are your chocoboss, ssirss," a Bangaa from the crew said as he handed the reigns to one of the men.

"Thank you, good man. Here, all of you, for your trouble," the other said in a proud tone as he threw a small pouch of gil to the dock crew.

"You are very kind men. What are your names, sirs?" asked a human from the crew who picked up the pouch.

"Why, we are…" said the men in unison, "Wedge and Biggs! The amazing Chocoknights!" As they spoke, they posed in mirror images of each other side-by-side. They bent forward and held their inner hand in a fist up close to their face and their other hand flat and pointed outwards in a heroic type manner.

They looked like they expected others to be impressed but they were met by silent, confused and almost frightened stares. Wedge and Biggs hurriedly gathered their belongings and mounted their chocobos then they headed towards the north gate of the city, and towards Sandros. They would reach the city by the trade routes that lead north and around the Venomwood. It would take them a few days, even by chocobo but they couldn't take their chocobos through the forest. Sandros wasn't going anywhere though, so they could take their time.

* * *

. . .

Well, I promised you Wedge and Biggs and I delivered. They'll be making more and more appearances later in the story. Not too frequently to begin with but later...I won't say anymore for now. I also have plans to incorporate many other FF trademarks later on. I still don't own Final Fantasy.


	5. A Girl Named Eve

Chapter 5

The Venomwood began to thin as the trio approached the calm and quiet town of Sandros the next morning. They had had to stop after a while and make camp the previous night. Lani had stood watch to let Zan get a good nights sleep. She didn't mind keeping the fire lit and listening for nocturnal predators, her Viera hearing was very sensitive when she couldn't see well. She had fought off a few little critters but nothing she couldn't handle swiftly and without waking the others.

As they neared the town Zan noticed that the creatures, and even the animals, shied away from them and the town. When they drew nearer, there were none at all.

Sandros was a big town but not big enough to call a city. It was quiet because few travellers had reason to go there unless they had business there. Other than traders, few people's journeys brought them to Sandros and so at least eighty percent of the townspeople were Nu Mou. Sandros was the town where Nu Mou ancestry led.

Almost immediately after reaching the main street, the friends were greeted by two Nu Mou who insisted that the trio bring their injured friend to the town healer. Not knowing what else to do, Mist was carried to a house just off the main road.

It was a nice small house. The roof was pointed and made of thatch and the walls were made of large stones. Once inside, a short, old Nu Mou wearing a white robe and wielding a gnarled staff greeted them.

"I am Meranim. Please, sit while I heal your friend," she said, gesturing for Zan and Lani to sit in the two armchairs in the front room of the house.

The room was cosy, with strange symbols marking many objects like rugs and cushions. The house was dimly lit. Only candles gave light since the curtains, which also had strange and likely magical symbols on them, were stretched out to cover the windows and show the symbols properly.

Mist lay down on the sofa across from Lani and Zan. The three chairs, a rug and two tables were the only furnishings in the room. The kindly old mage stood next to Mist and undid the bandage around Mist's stomach. She held her hands in front of her as if holding an invisible ball with one hand on and one hand under it. Next, she slid her hands around the imaginary ball until they had swapped places. She then brought her hands together pointing up, fingers and thumbs perfectly aligned and tilted them towards Mist.

"Cura!" cried the old mage in a hoarse voice.

Small green flashes of light surrounded Mist as two semi-transparent bells rang almost silently above her. The sight lasted only a few seconds and then disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. As it did, so did Mist's wound.

"There you go, young sorceress. Now I suppose you'll be wanting to go about your business. Off you go then," Meranim said in a cheery way.

"Sorry, but I'm not a sorceress," Mist replied as she got up, a little careful of where her wound had been.

"Well strike me down if this be the day when I don't recognise a sorceress' aura," Meranim said just a little offended, "You have a powerful magical presence about you, and all around you. If you aren't a sorceress then you should be. A sorcerer would be proud to have one like you as their apprentice."

"Well while we're here, maybe you can learn a few new spells," Lani told her enthusiastically.

Mist shrugged, "I guess I could."

"If I may ask," Zan interrupted, "Why don't the creatures from the surrounding woods enter the town? I find it curious that they are afraid to come near the town border."

"That's because of the Expel Barrier," Meranim explained, "A large and powerful barrier surrounds our town, preventing any creatures from crossing it. They instinctively avoid it, so that's why they don't even come close. The original barrier was made by the Nine Sorcerers themselves."

"Original barrier?" Zan queried.

"Oh, yes. The barrier was breached once and we were forced to erect a new one," Meranim replied.

"How could the Nine Sorcerers magic be breached?" Lani asked, quite stunned.

"Well that was our fault," Meranim answered, "A few elemental monsters attacked the outskirts of the town with magic so we tried to add a magic proof barrier as well but the two spells cancelled each other out. After that we had to re-erect the original barrier using an ancient spell that very few sorcerers know of."

"That's pretty interesting, Meranim. But, guys, lets not forget to do what we came to do," Mist said.

"And what is that, young one?" Meranim asked, now rather curious of the children.

"Oh, we came to investigate the noises coming from the Mages Tower," Lani answered, caught off guard by the unexpected question.

The white mage frowned and turned away. "Evil things be in there now. None have dared enter since we found the dead apprentice. Such a nice girl she was, Eve."

"Did you say Eve?" Mist asked hurriedly and with more energy than she thought she had, "A sorceress named Eve?" She sounded both shocked and frightened.

"Yes, that's right. Her name was Evelyn, but we all called her Eve," Meranim replied. She smiled as she thought of the kind, young girl, "Why? What's wrong dear?" she asked Mist.

"Yeah, Mist. What's wrong?" Zan asked with concern.

Mist had paled a bit at the reminder of her odd dream. It was a dream, she told herself, wasn't it? "It's nothing," she told them.

They thanked Meranim for her help and offered to pay her but the kindly mage refused.

"I work for free in this town and in return everyone around here helps this old Nu Mou for free as well. It's just a nicer way for the world to work, I think," she told them.

The friends headed to the tallest building in the town. It wasn't hard to find. The Mages Tower was a seven-tiered, octagonal building with a wide level at the bottom, and slightly smaller levels as the tower got higher. The ground level was made of red bricks and the others were made of sand-colored weatherboards. Each level had a rim of red tiles that ran around the edge of the roof and the top floor had a cone of tiles on it.

As they approached the tower they heard them. They heard the sounds that had been occurring since the morning of the apprentice's death. Eve's death.

First was a piercing scream, then a deep, beastly roar and finally a loud, muffled sound that even Lani's Viera hearing couldn't identify.

"That happens every hour and a bit," a voice said from in front of them.

The trio had been paying all of their attention to the tower so they didn't notice that a human sorcerer had approached them from the tower steps.

"None are allowed to enter until the Head Sorcerer has deemed it safe. He is investigating it now," said the sorcerer. He was wearing the light blue robe of a sorcerer who had trained in the tower. Sorcerers from Sandros often came to Andandrea.

"But we've come to help. Word was supposed to have been sent from Andandrea," Zan told him.

The sorcerer went to confer with his companion still waiting at the steps.

"What are you doing?" Lani asked in a shouted whisper.

"Getting us inside. You don't want to have to go home now after all this, do you?" Zan replied as the sorcerer returned.

"We did receive word that some adventurers would be coming to investigate. You'll find the Head Sorcerer inside somewhere. Be careful," the sorcerer told them as he went to open the door.

Zan followed in a manner that implied that he had expected nothing less while the girls stood dumbfounded that his plan had actually worked. After a discrete gesture from Zan they recovered and hurriedly caught up to him before he reached the door. They entered the dark structure together and the door was shut behind them.

The torches that normally illuminated the tower were, for the most part, extinguished. Only a few of them that would normally have lit the main entrance hall were burning in their notches along the walls. Under the assumption that the rest of the tower would be lit in the same way and with the possibility of creatures as well, the trio took an extinguished torch each and lit them from the burning ones.

They began to venture along the hallway and came upon a stone, spiral staircase. The torches along it were sparsely lit and it had a very eerie presence, but that wasn't going to stop them. Nothing could be as terrifying as those sounds. They went up the counter-clockwise spiral and found that it only went up one floor.

"How are we supposed to go up from here? Magic?" Lani asked in anger. She seemed to be directing her question at the roof.

"The tower is set out as a test for apprentice sorcerers," Zan explained as they went around a corner into another spooky corridor, "They must face their masters on each floor and can only reach the next floor if they can cross the one that they are on."

"I'm glad we don't have to do that," Lani said as they turned a corner and she was forced to eat her words.

In the middle of the floor were four gelatinous blobs. The room was better lit than the main entrance and they could be identified easily.

"Flans," Mist stated, "I figured that magical creatures, if any, would hide out in here," She had a touch of worry in her voice. Flans were very resistant to physical damage and could only be seriously hurt by magic.

The flans turned to face the intruders and began breathing heavily. Their colour and breath revealed their elemental alignments. One of them was orange and breathed fire, so it was obviously a Heat Flan. Another one was blue and breathed bubbles, that meant that it was an Aqua Flan. The third was green and breathed electricity, making it a Shock Flan. Finally, the fourth one was blue but breathed frost, which meant that it was an Ice Flan. Because they knew their opponents elements it was possible to use the right magic to severely harm them and use the least amount of magical energy needed to beat them.

The Ice Flan and Aqua Flan began shuddering as if they were about to explode.

"They're casting spells. Move!" Zan shouted and the trio moved just in time to avoid a column of water and a barrage of icicles.

They all dropped their torches and prepared their spells. Mist raised her hand and thought of a candle flame, burning in darkness. She pointed her outstretched arm at the Ice Flan.

"Fire!" she shouted and a fireball leapt from her hand to the flan. It writhed in pain as the flames scorched its body making it slump over, refusing to die. Another fireball finished it off and it turned into a shadow and vanished in a whiff of smoke.

Simultaneously, Zan held out his hand with his middle and index fingers outstretched and his palm down. He focused on a rolling storm cloud and jerked his wrist down.

"Thunder!" he called and a bolt of lightning struck the Aqua Flan, seemingly from nowhere. It too faded to black and vanished in a wisp of smoke.

Lani held her hand out, palm up and with her three middle fingers outstretched. Her focus was a single drop of water; once she was ready she flicked her fingers straight up.

"Water!" she called. A column of water erupted from beneath the Shock Flan, it tilted its head back and began to melt into the now damp floorboards, and then it vanished into smoke as well.

Now only the Heat Flan remained but since none of them had been watching it, they were caught by surprise when it cast a fireball right at Lani. She ducked swiftly but not fast enough to completely avoid the flames. The fireball zoomed past her and singed her left ear.

She yelped as the pain quickly registered. Zan didn't see where she had been hurt and immediately rushed to see if she was all right. That left Mist to deal with the flan. She held her hand out palm up but with her wrist twisted back. She thought of a simple snowflake and flung her hand outwards.

"Blizzard!" she shouted as a volley of ice fragments flew towards the flan, pin cushioning it, making it turn into a shadow and vanish just like the others.

"Is she going to be ok?" Mist asked Zan who was examining Lani's ear. She didn't look too happy about that.

"She'll be fine. Her fur is blackened a bit but she isn't hurt," he announced.

"Don't talk like my fur doesn't matter," Lani said trying to act as offended as she could. Like every Viera, she was very concerned about her fur.

The rest of the tower was much like the first part. Every level, the trio would encounter a group of magical creatures like flans and elementals, becoming more powerful each time. After they had defeated them they were able to reach the next staircase.

On the fifth floor after they had beaten a group of Gold and Red elementals, lightning and fire types respectively, they found a small, dry fountain in the wall. The instructions read that a water spell cast in this fountain would produce a healing drink.

"Let's try it," Lani said enthusiastically. She just wanted to get rid of the burn marks in her fur.

"Fine, but you're the test subject," Zan said as he cast the spell and the fountain filled up. Lani cupped her hands and drank some water. Slowly the burn on her ear vanished and she bounced up and down joyously, so the other two drank some and felt rejuvenated.

"I think we've stopped long enough," Zan said after a few moments rest. The water did make them feel rested. They proceeded to the next staircase and climbed to the sixth floor where they encountered a large and fierce looking creature.

The chimera was eight feet tall and it had three heads, a bull, a lion and an eagle. It had a very muscular, red-purple, human like body and a snake for a tail. Its hands were claws and its feet were hooves. Large black wings stuck out from its back and flames spouted from the bull's mouth.

"If I recall correctly, the heads and tail all have their own elements, so if we use the right spells on the right parts then we can beat it," Zan said quietly while the Chimera still hadn't noticed them.

They each prepared to cast different spells and entered the room. The creature turned from the nearby corner and roared at them. It crouched down and curled the snake over its back. Static crackled along the snake.

"Mine," said Mist who had been preparing a water spell. She forced the water to fall from the roof to reach the snake, a very difficult variation of the water spell sometimes used to imitate rain. The snake hissed and sizzled before collapsing on the Chimeras back. It wasn't too pleased with that and took a swipe with its claw just short of reaching the trio. They split up, Mist and Zan on the creatures left and Lani on its right.

The bull's head was still spitting flames and it was side on to Zan who was ready to cast a blizzard spell. He took aim and flung the ice shards, which struck it in the face when it turned as it heard him cast the spell. Its vision was not impaired in the least since it still had an eagle's sight. The lion's side arm, the right arm lifted above its heads and formed a ball of water.

It was about to splash it down on Mist and Zan when Lani called out, "Mine," and cast a thunder spell on the lion's head. The Chimera was disoriented and weakened and had only one target and one element left.

"Mine," Zan called and he launched a fireball right at the eagle's head. It screeched and the Chimera backed up leaving a defenceless body. The three of them drew their weapons and attacked head on. Their swords and arrows hit without resistance and the Chimera fell to the floor. It turned into a giant shadow and slowly shrank as wisps of smoke blew away, leaving a tiny pile of gil and two ethers. They were most likely things that it had found in the tower.

The trio knew that this wasn't the source of the sounds for it had sounded nothing like what they had heard outside. That meant that the top floor, as they had suspected, was where they would finally get answers.

As they began to walk towards the staircase at the back of the room they heard a strange sound unlike that of before and very soft. They spun around to face the corner behind them, weapons raised in a defensive posture.

A man sat in the corner with his arms wrapped around his knees. His eyes were as wide as they could be, maybe wider if that were possible. His pupils were tiny and he looked as if he had truly lost his mind. His bushy grey eyebrows were raised almost to his white hair that was covered mostly by his wizard's hat. He wore a blue robe like all other sorcerers who had trained in the tower and he also wore a white cape that could barely be seen against the wall behind him. He was mumbling something inaudibly.

"Who is he?" Mist pondered.

"Obviously he's the Head Sorcerer," Zan stated.

"What do you mean 'obviously'?" Mist asked sounding honestly curious but a little hurt.

"The only person other than us who is allowed in here is the Head Sorcerer according to those guards. Therefore he could only be the Head Sorcerer," he explained in a deductive tone.

"Well, what is he mumbling then? Lani?" Mist looked at Lani who understood the request.

She twitched her long ears and focused very hard on the sorcerer. She could barely make out the sounds but she put them together using the movement of his mouth.

"I think he keeps repeating 'The beast has risen,' or something like that," she told them.

Mist frowned. It couldn't be, but I'll bet it is. She turned in a swift motion picking up her torch, which had once again been dropped in apprehension of battle, and she dashed for the staircase.

The other two followed her after a brief moment of confusion. They wondered what could make Mist so eager to go that she would risk going without them.

They reached the top of the stairs and entered an antechamber. It was better lit than the rest of the tower and it had a tapestry on the left and right walls depicting a battle where magic was being used to defeat strange creatures. There was a similarly decorated rug running from the stairs to the double doors on the opposite wall.

Mist approached the door and her friends stood to either side, no longer as curious about why Mist had run off as they were about what was beyond the door. Their journey from the entrance must have taken over an hour but they would finally find out what was making those awful sounds.

Mist reached for the silver door handles and pushed the doors open, and she went pale at the sight that was revealed.

* * *

. . .

Dun dun dun! I finally got to use a cliffy! Wait, what finally? I'm only up to chapter 5. Wow, this was a long one too. Oh well, tune in next time for the dramatic conclusion. Oh, by the way, if anyone is interested I have posted the link to a map of my world on my bio stated under the link, the map is my intellectual property, not the property of Square-Enix.I still don't own Final Fantasy, which is the property of Square-Enix, who I have not given proper credit for their wonderful material until now.


	6. Knowledge in Death

I think I've kept you in suspense long enough. Here it is...

Chapter 6

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKK!" came a woman's high-pitched shriek. She was standing across the room from the trio. She wore a sorceress' robe, but it was white to show that she was an apprentice. Her bright blue eyes were full of terror, her blond hair was dishevelled and her skin was almost as pale as her robe.

The room looked as if a tornado had blown through it. There was a broken table and chair strewn all across the room in dozens of pieces and shreds of rug and tapestry, as well as candles and small items that were probably sitting on the table.

The source of girl's terror was right in front of her. A dark figure wearing a black cloak with its hood drawn up so that only the girl, for she couldn't have been more than sixteen, could see its face. Its body seemed rather large or its head was low but something about it didn't seem humanoid at all. It stepped closer to her and she backed up against the wall, trapped.

Mist felt compelled to do something so she crept up behind the cloaked figure and took a swipe with her sword across the figures back. Her sword went right through, but it didn't leave a mark, not even its cloak was torn.

The figure tilted its head back and let out an unearthly roar. As it did, its hood fell back and a scaly, green skinned head was revealed. It had webbed wing-like things around the back of its head and wide pointed ears. Its face was still turned away from them though.

The first two sounds had been identified but they hadn't worked out what the last one was. They were about to wish that they never had.

The creature lifted an arm and a clawed hand was pulled from the long sleeves. It held its arm back horizontally and Mist knew what was coming so she tried again and again to hack at the creature but all of her slashes met with air.

The creature lunged forwards and its hand went straight through the apprentice sorceress. There was a dull, muffled squelch as its hand pierced her skin and her pure white robe began to turn crimson with the blood that flowed down from her chest. The creature retracted its claw and the apprentice slumped to the floor, her eyes staring into nothingness.

The creature and apprentice blurred and flickered slightly and the trio realised that they were illusions, very realistic and graphic illusions. The two images clarified again and the creature approached the apprentice.

It threw down its cloak and Mist's fears were truly confirmed. The creature was green and scaly like a fish. It had a barbed arrowhead tail slowly swaying above the ground and most impressive of all were a huge pair of scaled wings that protruded from the creatures shoulder blades. They reached up to just above its head and down to just above the ground when drawn back as they were, and they must have been what made the creature seem so strange under its cloak.

It bent down and grabbed the girl by her throat. It reached to a hole in the wall and punched it, Mist took a moment to realise that the wall would still have been solid when the creature punched it. It took something from the hole in the wall then turned to leave. The same terror that had filled the girl's eyes now filled Mist, as the red on black evil eyes of the creature seemed to stare right into her, even though it couldn't know that she was there. It walked straight towards her and, although she knew it would do no good, she raised her sword and stood stiff, unable to move.

The creature was only a few feet away; it had not even slowed as it walked right at Mist. It reached her and Mist felt a chill that went right to her spine. She felt as though she were being frozen from the inside as the image of the creature passed right through her and blurred out of existence as it reached the door.

Mist fell to her knees and rubbed her arms to try and restore the warmth stolen by the illusion. Her friends stood to either side of her and tried to reassure her that she would be all right.

"What was that thing?" Lani asked, not expecting an answer.

Mist opened her mouth to tell the others about her dream and Omega but before she even took a breath a voice answered for her.

"That was the creature Omega," said the soft and kind voice from some unseen place in the room. Suddenly a glowing, semi-transparent figure appeared. It was the apprentice sorceress that had died right before their eyes. She hovered just above the mess on the floor with her hands clasped together in front of her waist, "If you're wondering, I am Evelyn."

"You mean you're the apprentice who was found dead on the steps of the tower?" Zan asked in an unbelieving tone.

"Yes. A warning from Omega to try to prevent people from uncovering his plans," Evelyn replied.

"And what are his plans? Did he kill you because you know?" Lani asked and blushed as she realised that talking about her death so lightly may offend Evelyn.

"No. He merely used me as a warning. I was to take my final test the following day and I came up here to meditate as all apprentices do the night before their tests," Evelyn explained, "I was the only one to have a test the next day, so I was alone in the tower. I have haunted this place until someone would come and discover the evil that has occurred, else my death would be for nothing."

"Who… or what is Omega?" Zan asked, quite confused about the conversation so far.

Evelyn opened her mouth to answer but Mist felt that it really was time she let the others know what she knew, "Omega is a dragonoid," she began, "He is a creature from the time of the Nine Sorcerers and he was so powerful that they banished him to the heart of the world to be trapped there for all time. He doesn't age and his hide is practically invulnerable. He's supposed to be three times the size of a dragon though."

"His power is still weak from centuries of being unused," Evelyn interrupted, "If enough of his power is restored then he will become strong enough to return to his true form. If that happens then the world is likely doomed."

"We have to tell someone about this. The world needs to know that there's a super-powerful dragon loose," Lani said obviously worried after being told that the world might be doomed.

"I think we're supposed to do it. We're supposed to save the world," Mist said weakly, almost sounding defeated. She still knelt on the ground rubbing her arms as the warmth was finally returning to her.

"How do you know all of this, Mist?" Zan asked her, "How do you know about Omega and why do you think we have to stop him?"

"When I fell in that river in the Venomwood," she explained, "I had a dream and I met three of the Nine Sorcerers, who told me that they want me to stop Omega. I didn't want to believe that it was real, but when I heard about a sorceress named Eve I felt that there might be more to it than that."

"Why is my name so important?" Evelyn asked.

"Because the Human Sorceress was called Eve and she looked like an older version of you," Mist told her.

"Hmm. Perhaps this attack on me was more planned than coincidence," Evelyn said as she thought, "Did you see the Head Sorcerer in the tower? He may be able to tell you more about Omega and the Nine Sorcerers. He came here and I thought that I could pass my message to him but he fled when he saw my death."

"Yes we did see him," Zan replied, "And I think I understand what he was saying better now. 'The beast has risen' means Omega has risen. He does know something."

"Wait," Lani interrupted, "What message are you talking about?"

"I must tell you of Omega's plans," Evelyn began, "I didn't know them in life, but in death I have learned much already. When Omega left, he took something from the tower, a piece of parchment from a hidden alcove over there." She gestured to the hole in the wall at the back of the room right next to where she had died.

"The parchment was a note written by the Nu Mou Sorceress, Exodus. She had written one of the most powerful spells ever known on it. The sorcerers themselves almost never used them. That is why they wrote down how to cast them, they didn't use them often enough to commit the method to memory. The other sorcerers have the rest of the instructions to other very powerful spells written down and stored somewhere as well. If Omega finds and reads all of the instructions then he will be able to cast the most destructive and powerful spells in the world. The only way to stop him would be to discover and obtain the spell instructions from each of the Nine Sorcerers before he does. Their magic is too powerful to overcome with regular spells. If the Nine Sorcerers have faith in you to stop him then good luck and journey well," The image of Evelyn faded as she said her final words and the room became a touch darker without her glowing presence.

Lani turned to face Mist, "Why didn't you tell us about that dream of yours? Didn't you think we'd like to know that we might be needed to fight the most powerful being in the world?" She finished yelling with her arms waving above her head.

"I'm sorry. I didn't give it much thought. I thought that I had imagined it. I didn't mean to leave you guys out," Mist babbled with her head stooped and a slightly sad and scared look on her face.

"You know that Mist wouldn't lie to us, Lani. Give her a break," Zan said in Mist's defence. She was relieved that he was still on her side. Her friends had every right to be mad at her, "But why don't you tell us more about it, Mist."

"Yeah," Lani added, more restrained now, "I'd like to hear about it too. Sorry I lashed out like that, you know me. I just overreact sometimes."

They sat on the ground and Mist told them the details of her dream. They talked about the hall, which they had all heard of from bedtime stories and history lessons. There was no debate that the hall had once existed. Images of it had been found in the ruined city near Flondaire. They also discussed the 'summoning' power that Mist was supposed to have.

"Do you think that it's the same power that Meranim saw when she looked at you?" Zan asked Mist. It was a reasonable conclusion, considering Mist's otherwise normal magical skills.

"I suppose it could be," Mist replied, "But what exactly can I summon?"

"Who knows, but I'm sure you'll find out soon enough," Lani assured her.

They proceeded to return to the sixth level and found the Head Sorcerer exactly where he had been, as they now realised, obviously in shock from the sight he'd seen. Mist and Lani held him up and carried him by the shoulders while Zan lead the way with the torch. They met little resistance from creatures on the way down, nothing Zan couldn't deal with single-handed. All the way down the Head Sorcerer was still quietly repeating, "The beast has risen."

* * *

. . .

I hope this relieves some people from the stress of a cliffie. Sorry that it's so much shorter than last chapter. I still don't own Final Fantasy.


	7. The Next Step

Chapter 7

As the trio reached the main entry of the tower Zan replaced the torches in their places along the walls and he opened the door for Mist and Lani to help the Head Sorcerer outside.

"Head Sorcerer! What happened?" the guards shouted almost on top of one another. They rushed over to help Mist and Lani set him down on the steps. He had become a little more aware as they had reached the ground floor and at the attention from the guards he began to speak, carefully but with growing strength.

"I…I'm fine…I thank you children for your help. This town is in your debt. Should you need anything while you are in Sandros, take this," He handed Mist a small piece of parchment that simply read, 'Put it on my tab,' and it had a rough scrawl that must have been his signature, "I owe you that much at least for helping me out of the tower. Oh, what happened on the top floor? I know I saw it but I…I can't remember anything about it."

"Perhaps that's for the best, sir," Lani said in a gentle tone. Mist nodded as the Head Sorcerer turned his attention to her.

"Well if you say so, I suppose I shall trust you," he agreed. One of the guards, a human, helped him up. "If you will excuse me I need some rest."

Zan approached the second guard, a Bangaa, and told himin his usual serioustone, "You will quite likely need to have a group of people search the tower to ensure that there are no more creatures."

"Creaturess? How did they get in the tower?" the guard replied. He stared up at the tower and the sky above, "The town iss protected from them."

"I don't know how they got there but there are…were several magic using creatures on each level of the tower," Zan continued, "There may yet be more."

"Urda, hurry up!" the first guard called to his companion.

Urda looked towards his partner and the Head Sorcerer and then back at the young trio. "The Head Ssorcerer iss in no condition to help you further in thiss matter, perhapss you should come back another time. I ssuggesst that you sspeak with Meranim the healer, though,if you wish to learn anymore about the barrier. Perhapss she can work out why creaturess were able to enter the tower. At the leasst let her know what hass happened, pleasse."

"We will tell her," Mist told him, and at that he nodded to each of them and went to help the other guard to move the Head Sorcerer, quite likely back to his home.

Home. Mist spared a brief thought for hers. She was so far from home and her parents were probably worried about her but they knew she could look out for herself, especially with her friends by her side.

The three friends turned back the way they had come earlier that day and proceeded through the town to the house where they had met Meranim. Townspeople were out in the street staring at the tower and whispering to one another. Mist couldn't understand why these people who must have seen the tower every day were so interested in it now.

"It's been nearly an hour and a half since we reached the top of the tower," Zan told her. She hadn't realised how obvious she had made her curiosity until he had spoken to her. The noises had missed their near hourly cue and people had slowly begun to realise it.

They found the stone house easily and tapped on the door. "Come in. My door is always open," came Meranim's cheery voice. The three entered and Meranim greeted them warmly, offering them a seat in the front room.

"Thank you, Meranim," Mist said politely as she took a seat, "It's nice to see you again so soon. We just came back from the Mages Tower."

Meranim froze halfway to her seat when Mist mentioned the tower. "Well deary, don't leave me hanging here," she laughed as she finished sitting down, "What happened? What was making those terrible noises?"

The trio gave their story, telling it in parts as the others stopped for breath. Mist told the part of Omega, which made Meranim shudder, but they finished telling everything before asking her any questions. "Meranim," Zan said softly, "What do you know of Omega? We need to know as much as you're willing to tell us."

Meranim looked at each of them cautiously, "Well I don't know too much," she began, "But here it is. One thousand and one years ago a powerful beast known as Omega walked the surface of this world. He was a force to be reckoned with, and he was evil as the devil himself. Omega gathered many powerful beasts to his side and used them to strike at the nine Sorcerers. He nearly defeated them too, but knowing what was coming, they used all of their strength to drive the beast to a weak point in the planet's magical force. There they created a portal to the heart of the world where the beasts would be trapped with no way to reach the surface. The spell took almost all of the Sorcerers power and they were dying. After finally setting their affairs in order, the Sorcerers supposedly set off to their homes to die. A sad ending but at least it wasn't The End, eh?" The stress she placed on The End made what she meant clear. As Meranim finished her tale she got up from her seat and wandered towards the next room. "Help yourselves to a cookie from the table if you want to," she said before disappearing through the door.

"Well that doesn't tell us much that we didn't already know," Lani pointed out, "So what now?"

"Oh darn," Meranim said from the other room in a disappointed way, "If you want another mystery why don't you try working out what happened to the medicine supply from Duntarine. It just suddenly became a trickle the other day. Not enough to go around, so I hear. There must be a problem somewhere in Duntarine or on that Loxdue Island. A strange place from the sound of it…" she trailed off into a few complaints about certain herbs that she had more than enough of and wishing for the power to turn them into what she needed. The trio took their cookies and thanked Meranim for her help before heading off to town.

After a bit of wandering, they found a few stalls where they used the Head Sorcerer's note to purchase supplies. Some of the shopkeepers were hesitant to take the IOU from the Head Sorcerer, who it seemed wasn't all that reliable at paying his tab, but they were kind enough to let it slide anyway. As they bought food and items for their journey they began to discuss where they were going.

"I just don't see why we have to be the ones to fight…him," Lani said. By chance she had avoided putting her foot in her mouth and kept their conversation private. No one seemed to be trying to listen to them but people where close enough to overhear without trying too hard.

"I already told you," Mist replied even quieter, "I don't want to do it any more than you do, but Eve said that we have to. That I have to, anyway. If you guys don't want to…I guess I can understand that. I mean…"

"Of course we're coming with you, Mist," Zan interrupted. They had finished buying supplies and they found a bench in a small quiet park to sit and discuss the matter further. "All we're saying, Mist," he continued, "Is that we don't understand why we were chosen. Well, why you were chosen."

"I don't know really," Mist replied, "But I guess that's one of the things we can puzzle out while we walk. So we're going to Duntarine then to solve the medicine mystery?"

"I guess so," Lani answered. She placed the food they had bought into a compartment of her pack and slung it over her shoulder. "So, where shall we go now?" she looked up briefly, "It's too late in the day to start travelling now unless there's a town REALLY close by."

"If I recall correctly," Zan said in his frequently knowledgeable voice, "I believe there is. Just northwest of Sandros, not far north of the Venomwood is a town called…Erebi. If we leave now we can make it there before dusk."

"Alright," Mist said in a tone of weak enthusiasm, "Let's go to Erebi."

It was just after midday. Three young heroes ventured off into the wilderness, away on their journey. The scene was nearly clichéd; small birds chirped from the roofs and thin, fluffy clouds drifted lazily across the sky. The journey was just beginning and whether they knew it or not, there were many difficult challenges to be faced very soon.

* * *

. . .

That seems like a good enough place to end that chapter. Hope you enjoyed that less than enthrawling fragment of my story, it'll get better soon enough, I promise. I still don't own Final Fantasy.


	8. Weary Travellers

Just for those of you who don't know, Bangaas have a lisp of sorts. Whenever they say an 's', they extend the sound. It's written as a double 's', so when you read a word like "thiss", it's not a typo, it's intentional. Just wanted to make that clear. Moving on, it's been a while, I suppose, and I wanted to get this chapter out before my exams. I won't be posting anything else until after the 19th of June. That's the day of my last exam for this semester. Anyway, here's...

Chapter 8

The sun had begun to set behind the distant hills and the thin layer of clouds was fading into glowing hues of purple and gold. The trio had been journeying along a dirt road that lead through the open plains of Cyndaria for hours since their late departure from Sandros and they were getting tired. Thankfully they were approaching their destination for the night, Erebi. They entered the village, far too small to warrant the title 'town', and followed the hardened dirt path straight to the inn. It wasn't too hard. In such a small town the only two-story building was almost definitely an inn.

A few children ran past them down the road chasing a cat. They waved and shouted greetings to the teenagers as they went past but as soon as they had they were back to chasing the poor feline. It was a nice feeling to have people that you had never met greet you in passing. Mist supposed that a few travellers were about the only excitement these kids would get around this little place. That would explain why they would spend their time chasing that unfortunate creature. Then again, she guessed that the cat was probably used to it by now.

As they got closer, Mist was able to make out the sign above the door of the inn. The sign for 'The Weary Traveller' was a man with a sack sitting on a rock under a tree. When they entered through the large wooden door they were relieved by the chilly breeze coming from a cooling orb in the corner of the room. It hadn't been a hot day but walking across open plains for a few hours was bad enough on a mild day. Lani walked over to the blue sphere on its carved wooden pedestal and placed her face only an inch from the orbs surface, resting her chin on the rim the circled the orbs equator. It was a plain glass sphere that had been charged with a combination of air and ice spells to generate a cool breeze from a few small holes in its surface. It was a clever device and a good use of complex magic.

At the front counter there was a bored, young human girl balancing on the back legs of her ladder back chair and repeatedly bouncing a ball off a wall and catching it. As Mist and Zan approached her she didn't even take her eyes from the ball for a second before asking "How can I help you?"

"We'd like two rooms for the night," Zan replied, "A single and a double, please,"

The girl caught the ball and turned around to a set of small, wooden boxes fixed to the wall behind her, "That's one hundred gil per room per night. So that's a total of two hundred gil for you guys," She picked two keys from adjacent boxes and handed them to Zan, "Room six is the single and room seven is the double," Zan handed her the gil as he took the keys.

"Would you go and get the ice queen and tell her we have our rooms organised," Zan asked Mist as he walked towards the stairs and threw the key to room seven to her.

Mist walked towards the brisk air surrounding the cooling orb and tapped Lani on the shoulder.

"Huh? What?" Lani stammered as she was suddenly drawn out of some distant daydream, "Oh, Mist, are our rooms ready?"

Mist nodded her head, "Zan got us a room to share and another one for himself."

"Oh, when you said 'for US to share' I almost thought…" but Mist cut her off before she finished.

"I told you," Mist whispered, growing redder despite the cool air, "Don't say things like that when we're in public. I'm not telling him and neither are you."

Lani gave a defeated sigh, "Ok, but you need to tell him sooner or later. I can't stand the tension between you two sometimes," She gave a simple shrug and started walking towards the stairs. Mist took a moment to just imagine saying the words she wanted to say, but she could never say them to Zan.

* * *

After a brief rest they went down to the dining room just beside the main entry. They hadn't had a decent meal in a few days and that was a few days too long in Mists opinion. The girl who was at the front counter was now serving tables and a young man who looked much like the girl was sitting behind the counter. They were probably brother and sister. Inns were often run by families and an odd one or two other locals in smaller towns and villages. In larger towns and cities there would be a lot more extras working at an inn.

"Can I take your order?" the girl asked as she came to their table. She got out a small notepad and pulled a pencil from behind her ear. "Today's specials are on the board over there," she added, pointing to a chalkboard above a counter that revealed a kitchen through an opening in the wall.

"We'll have three of the roast and a pitcher of water please," Zan told her, relaying their decision made earlier that evening. They had to conserve their gil if they were going to be journeying for a while. Duntarine was a long way off and they were unlikely to find gil just lying around. Some creatures would 'drop' gil and items such as potions when they were killed but that was only because of special circumstances. When an adventurer met their match and was defeated by creatures it was not unlikely that the creatures would eat them. Creatures need sustenance and so they would eat the person and often some of what they had been carrying. When the creature finally died, the gil and/or items that they had eaten would remain where they fell.

"…Mist, are you even listening?" Lani asked, interrupting Mist's train of thought. She realised that she had been thinking off track. She also realised that what she had been remembering was a lecture from one of her grumbly old teachers. Her school lessons were quite likely to help her and her friends on their journey but this wasn't the time to be daydreaming.

"Sorry," She replied as her cheeks reddened.

Lani gave a slight sigh, "As I was saying, we need a faster way to get to Duntarine," she began in a quiet voice so as not to draw attention to their conversation in case something of their mission came up, "There's no chocobo ranch here, so that option's out."

"Wait, how do you know there isn't one here?" Mist interupted.

"The best way to learn is to ask, so, I asked," Lani replied, "There was one in Sandros but going back there would waste a whole day just to get back to here again," she slumped with her head resting against her hand propped up by her elbow jutting out on the table, demonstrating her usual abandon of table manners.

"Excuse me…" came a shy, quiet voice.

Mist, who was sitting on one side of the table, turned around to search for the owner of the voice while Zan and Lani on the other side of the table searched behind their seat. Mist felt a gentle tug on her trouser leg and turned back around to look beside their table. There she saw a very short Bangaa boy who she remembered had been chasing that cat with the other children earlier that day.

"Yes? Did you say something?" Mist asked in a soft, polite voice.

"My big brother iss taking a cart to Duntarine tomorrow to help our uncle there transport ssome equipment," the boy began, "He'ss worried though, causse there'ss been rumourss of banditss on the road to Duntarine lately. If you help him fend off the banditss I'll bet he'll let you ride in the cart on the way there."

"Why would bandits attack an empty cart?" Zan asked. He always saw the situation analytically.

"The cart won't be empty," the boy replied, "But that'ss not what the banditss are after. It'ss the chocoboss. Wild chocoboss around here are really fasst and hard to catch, sso banditss jusst ssteal tame oness."

"Is there anything more specific you can tell us about these bandits?" Lani asked, a calm and serious expression on her face. To make her seem even more serious she sat up straight in her seat, a rare sight. Like Zan, when talking about something serious, Lani changed from her usual slack and ragged nature and took on a more determined attitude, absorbing what was important. When it came down to it, those two were a lot alike.

"Nope," the Bangaa youth replied, "Well, jusst that they hide in the ssmall tree patchess that cover the plainss. It'ss not like there'ss anywhere elsse for them to hide out there."

Mist turned to her companions, "A chocobo drawn cart would be faster than walking…" she trailed off but her friends knew that that was a non-committal agreement. She was often uncomfortable when it came to trusting someone she didn't know.

Zan turned to the young Bangaa, "When does your brother leave?"

"Firsst thing tomorrow," he replied, "I can tell him to wait for you but he won't wait long. If you want to find our housse from here, jusst head right out the front door and go to the end of the road, turn left and look for the yellow door with the chocobo on it."

* * *

. . .

I still don't own Final Fantasy.


	9. Morning Departures

Sorry it's been so long. I had exams and study and several other excuses. I'll stick with exams though, since that one's a valid reason. I haven't been writing very much lately so I guess I'll have to start making time for it or I'll run out of material to post soon. "Make time for it," makes it sound like I don't have any time to spare. I woke up at about 10am this morning. I have plenty of time. I guess I'll just use some of my otherwise wasted time. Anyway, I've bored you enough, so here's...

Chapter 9

After a rather good meal, the teens retired to their rooms for an uneventful night's sleep, which ended just before dawn. They grabbed their belongings and went downstairs, handing their keys to the young girl who was half asleep at the front desk.

As they walked down the street to meet up with the young Bangaa and his brother, the sun rose warmly over the horizon behind them, their long shadows stretched out ahead. The morning was quiet except for a not-too-distant sound of farm animals and chocobos.

At the end of the street they had been walking down was another that ran perpendicular. Most of the doors were brightly colored with a sword or a shield or scissors or a needle and thread on them, signifying a shop selling those goods or services.

A few storekeepers were setting up their displays in front of their shops but were kind enough to spare a moment to greet and wave to the traveling teens as they passed. Shortly after turning onto the street, they came to the yellow door with the picture of a chocobo on it. The sign of a transporter. Zan knocked a few times and a familiar voice called for them to come in.

"Oh good, you're here," said the boy from the night before. He was carrying a few small sacks from a back room. He had one across his back, two in his arms and another dragging behind him.

"Can we help you with those?" Mist asked.

"Nah, I've got these under control," he replied, "They're our lasst client'ss cargo. Brother jusst got back from a delivery lasst night. He'ss out back ssetting up the cart again sso you should head back there," he said as he gestured towards the door he'd just come from.

Lani led the others down a short corridor that exited into a small courtyard connected to an alley. The street that could be seen beyond the alley was empty and quiet, and a warm glow just reached over the rooftops to touch the road surface. In the courtyard, a muscular young Bangaa man was hitching a second chocobo to a small wooden cart that took up a fair amount of the space available between the building they had just exited and the one opposite them. In the cart, there appeared to be some tarp, several poles, a few coils of rope, a small, plain and slightly bulging sack and a pale blue daypack with a few items strung to it, such as a frying pan. There didn't look like there was much room for the three of them to fit.

Once the Bangaa finished what he was doing he turned to see the three adventurers. He gave them a friendly smile and came to greet them.

"Ahh, you must be these travellerss my younger brother, Krayl, told me about," he said with only a mild Bangaa slur, "I am Guiness," he added as he extended his hand to them.

Since she had been in front, Lani shook his hand first and introduced herself. "What will we owe you for this?" she added.

"Hahaha!" Guiness bellowed in a strong-bellied laugh, "So long ass you keep those banditss away you won't owe me a thing. I just hope you don't mind a sslightly rough trip. The road we take issn't exactly ssmooth."

"It doesn't really bother us," Zan replied, "It can't be as bad as walking the whole way to Duntarine. I'm Zan," he added as he offered his hand to Guiness.

The Bangaa laughed heartily again before shaking Zan's hand, "And who might the third member of your crew be?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm Mist," she replied, caught off guard. She carefully held out her hand towards Guiness who took it with a firm grip but a gentle shake, as if sensing her unease.

"Well with the introductionss out of the way there'ss just one thing left to do," Guiness said. He walked to a corner of the courtyard and picked up a small crate. He carefully carried it over and placed it gently at one end of the cart. "That crate'ss my cargo for the trip to Duntarine. Don't open it," he told them as he walked past them to the back door and picked up a large, sheathed broadsword, which had been sitting next to the doorway.

"Sure," Lani replied, her eyes firmly yet calmly fixed on the crate, "Then could you settle my curiosity now and just tell me what's in it?" she asked without once diverting her gaze.

"Private property," Guiness told her flatly, "And I don't make a habit of revealing client'ss deliveriess. It'ss a professional courtessy," he added.

They say curiosity killed the cat, and if so then Lani should consider herself lucky that she wasn't a cat or she'd have lost more than nine lives before she was five. She had a thirst for knowledge that was private or just off limits that had got the three of them in stacks of trouble in the past. Now she was giving Guiness a look similar to that of an abandoned kitten, which was beginning to scare Mist but she almost couldn't help laughing.

"Come on you," Zan said as he grabbed Lani's arm and pulled her over to the cart, "We've held up Guiness long enough already, and I think I'll sit next to that," he added as Lani prepared to sit next to the crate. She turned the poor defenceless animal look on him but after so many years he was completely unaffected by it. After a few moments, Lani simply turned her head away with a hurt look in her eyes but flicked back a moment later to poke her tongue out at him. So childish, but that was just Lani.

"I wasn't gonna open it," Lani lied quietly and in an appropriately childish voice.

Mist shook her head, "This is going to be a long trip," she told herself under her breath.

* * *

The cart and its occupants had been traveling for a couple of hours across the open plains of Cyndaria and the sun had risen to hide behind a thin cloud. The cart had been too small for Mist to fit as well as the other two so she had begun the journey by riding on the second chocobo next to Guiness. After about an hour or so they stopped for Mist and Zan to switch places. Lani would have her turn soon.

"I'm getting hungry," Guiness announced, "I don't know about you three but I didn't have much time for breakfast thiss morning,"

Mist opened her mouth to answer but a deep rumbling from her stomach beat her to it.

"I think Mist's stomach speaks for all of us," Lani replied.

Guiness laughed his belly laugh as he guided the chocobos to the side of the road and brought the cart to a halt.

Zan and Guiness dismounted the chocobos and Mist and Lani clambered out of the cart, glad to be off their mildly sore behinds. The three teens began to sort out some rations from Lani's pack before Guiness placed his large hand over the opening.

"What is it, Guiness?" Mist asked in a timid voice.

"No need to be digging into your rations jusst yet," he told them, "I wass expecting uss to be stopping like thiss so I planned ahead," He walked over to the cart and grabbed the small sack and his daypack. "One of you go get ssome wood from that ssmall clump of treess over there," he gestured to a sparse group of trees not far away up the road with a few bare limbs that would probably burn well.

"I'll handle the fire," Zan told him.

As Zan went off to gather firewood, Lani and Mist began clearing a small patch of ground for the fire using a trowel from Mist's bag. As they did, Guiness removed a thick woollen towel and a waxy paper parcel from the sack.

"What do you have in those?" Lani asked, and as she watched Guiness open the two packages she nearly started to drool at the sight of the rashers of bacon and the fresh eggs that had been within. "It's been TOO long since I've had anything like bacon and eggs for breakfast," she said dreamily, leaning forward to get a closer look.

She was completely oblivious to Zan who had returned and was holding the wood for the fire directly over her head, which was now hovering over the centre of the cleared ground. Mist cupped a hand under Lani's chin and placed her other hand on the top of Lani's head. Lani's expression became that of cautious curiosity as Mist tilted Lani's head back to look at the wood above her.

"Hehe, oops," she mumbled as she shuffled backwards and out of Zan's way as he placed the wood on the ground and held out his hand.

"Fire," he called and a fireball leaped from his hand igniting the broken branches.

"Magic userss, eh?" Guiness asked in a way that said he didn't need or expect an answer, "Maybe your sstory would be an interesting one," he added as he took the frying pan from his pack and began heating it over the fire. "Why are you three heading to Duntarine?"

"Well…" Mist started. They had agreed on a story to tell people who asked why they were going to wherever it happened to be they were going. They didn't want to lie too often so they all thought it best to simply say that they were going on an adventure and just skip the part about the Sorcerers and Omega and saving the world, so they didn't mention meeting Evelyn at the top of the Mage's Tower.

After a brief explanation of their adventures thus far, Guiness interjected with a question, "That'ss all very interesting, but I find it hard to believe that there were creaturess in the Mage'ss Tower. Do you have any idea how that happened?"

"No," Zan replied, "We don't. It was a very strange occurrence,"

"I suppose if we head back through there on our way back to Andandrea then we can ask if they found out anything more about it," Lani added.

"What about you, Guiness?" Mist asked, "Your brother told us that you're going to help your uncle. What does he need help with?"

Guiness smiled proudly, "He'ss the coach of Duntarine'ss finest blitzball team, the Duntarine Dozerss. He needs me to help him transsport the team'ss gear to Andandrea, then he'll take it by ferry to the big tournament in Costa Porti that sstarts in just over a week."

"I love blitzball," Lani half shouted with a sparkle in her eye that she got whenever someone mentioned the sport, "One of my cousins in Troinia used to play for their championship winning team. She showed me all of her moves."

Guiness turned his head to the sky as the sun came out briefly from behind the clouds, "We'd besst be getting back on the road as ssoon as we're done here," he said as he placed the bacon strips on the frying pan, "We don't want to give thosse bandits a chance if we don't have to."

Mist dug their plates and forks out of her pack and they sat there in the open plains, waiting and relaxing as the delicious smell of breakfast wafted in the air.

* * *

. . .

I still don't own Final Fantasy.


	10. A Breeze in Battle

I am SOOO sorry this took so long. Uni has been keeping me very busy and I haven't had much free time to devote to writing, so this about the first time in the past two months that I've actually done any writing that I enjoy. No further delays, here is...

Chapter 10

With a delicious meal in their stomachs, Zan and Mist climbed into the cart and sat along the side facing towards the road while Lani mounted a chocobo and Guiness finished covering the fire and checking the wheels. When he was done, they started off again with a slight jolt and Mist fell against Zan.

"Oh, sorry…" Mist half whispered as she set herself up straight.

"Not a problem," Zan replied with an expressionless face.

Mist, who was sitting closer to the front of the cart, turned towards the road ahead and blushed a little. Lani, who had turned back when she heard talking, gave her an all too knowing smirk. Mist replied with a frown and a disapproving stare. They understood everything the other meant by the look in their eyes, and had since they were little. It had proven quite useful at getting them out of tight spots with their parents.

As they continued along the rough dirt road, which seemed to be the only man-made formation in sight except for a village they'd passed in the nearby hills, not far from the road, the three teens asked Guiness about Duntarine. They knew a few things about the city, that it was a port in the northwest, that it was the ancient home of the Moogle race, and that it was a very prosperous city, rich in trade and an exporter of medical supplies, but since Guiness had family there, they thought it reasonable that he may be able to tell them more.

"Well I haven't been there that often mysself," Guiness replied, "But I can tell you a few thingss about the city. Firsst of all, it is one of the few plasses to export Cactuar needles,"

"Cactuar needles?" Zan said softly, as though thinking out loud, "I believe that was one of the things that Meranim said she was missing," he continued, louder and obviously directing the statement at Mist and Lani.

"Meranim," Guiness said in almost the same thoughtful way as Zan, "She iss the healer in Ssandross, correct?" he asked.

"That's right," Lani replied, "Do you know her?"

"I have made a delivery for her, and sseveral to her, in the passt," he answered, "A kind woman, but not a great tipper. She said ssomething about the world being a better place if people didn't have to pay for thingss. A nice idea but I don't work for free very often," he grinned at the youths, "But I did take her advice on payment by favourss,"

"So that's why we don't have to pay you for this if we help fend off the bandits?" Mist asked.

"Pressicely," Guiness replied, still turned inwards towards the cart as he spoke to her.

Mist felt a tension grow in her and barely caught a glimpse of its cause from the corner of her eye before acting immediately. She brought her hands together at the wrists and twisted them clockwise so that they split in opposite directions and stopped them when they were aligned with her arms, all the while envisioning a small swirl of air. She slid her hands apart until her elbows were as far apart as she could spread them and then she forced her hands forwards, crossing her thumbs.

"Aero," she called and a swirling vortex spun around Guiness, just in time for three arrows to bounce off the invisible shield from the direction of a small but thick clump of trees. The sudden calamity spooked the chocobos and they stopped immediately. A slightly unexpected reaction, but if trained well, a chocobo would do whatever its master had told it to in the right situation. No wonder the bandits were after trained chocobos.

Lani had obviously picked up what was going on from Mist's actions and had drawn her bow, nocked an arrow and dismounted her chocobo all in the time it had taken Mist to cast the spell. Zan was already out of the cart and had his rapier drawn, ready to fight. Mist followed him quickly with her sword in hand and they both joined Lani behind the cart, away from their assailants' line of sight. Guiness, still under the protection of the aero spell, took a little longer to join them but was unhurt by the second volley of three arrows launched at him as he took cover behind the cart.

"Thank you," Guiness told Mist, "You have earned your passage by that alone,"

Mist blushed, "It was nothing," she replied.

"So what are we up against?" Lani asked as she took a chance peek above the top of the cart.

"From the number of arrows fired, the accuracy and the presumption that these are in fact bandits," Zan began as he went through his logical, battle-hardened strategising, "I'd say we're up against three opponents, most likely a combination of Elves, Viera and/or Humans," Those races were generally the best at ranged combat, particularly archery, due to their long distance vision being better than other races. Of course, there were always exceptions but Zan was nearly always right when he analysed a battle situation.

"Ok," Mist said with a slight pause, as if giving herself another moment to think, "If we cast aero on ourselves then charge in, we should be able to get in close without taking any hits from the arrows."

"Mist," Zan interrupted, "We only know how many archers they have. There may very well be more bandits with swords or other close combat equipment with them. If we rush in we may well head into an ambush."

"I don't think that'll be the casse," Guiness informed them, "Banditss 'round these partss work in ssmall groups, from what the lucky oness say. It should jusst be the three of them but they'll each have swordss as well."

"Ok, the plan should still work then," Mist continued, "Just remember that since they're bandits we should try to capture them, not hurt them, so…any ideas?"

"I don't think we should wait too long," Lani said as she poked her head up to look once more, "They may get impatient…" An arrow flew close over Lani's head just between her ears.

"I do believe they're trying to kill us," Lani announced as she sat down against the side of the cart staring straight ahead for a moment before shaking off the sudden shock.

"I have an idea, kidss," Guiness told them and they all listened in on what he had to say.

* * *

"Ready?" Mist inquired as the others stood at the ends of the cart. Another volley of arrows had landed in front of them as they had formulated the plan. The bandits must have aimed at just the right angle and power to lob their arrows over the cart. They were definitely expert archers, and quite likely not very good swordsmen since they were trying to win before their opponents were too close. All of this had been factored into the plan.

"We're ready," Lani replied, standing next to Zan at the front of the cart.

"I'm ready," Guiness replied from the other end.

"Alright, let's go then," Mist told them as Lani, Zan and herself all cast aero on themselves before charging towards the trees. Guiness, still protected by Mist's spell, although not for much longer, followed not too far behind them.

The trees were sparse but still dense enough with shrubs at ground level to hide the trio of bandits launching another volley of arrows at each of the three youths charging at them. As they got closer, Lani fired an arrow between two of the places she had seen arrows fired from. She didn't want to hit them, just scare them into revealing themselves. It worked. A Human male rolled out of the bushes back into the trees and stood up with a sword in his hand, ready to fight. Almost immediately after he stood up, a Viera and female Human leaped out of the bushes brandishing swords as well.

Zan and Mist stood in front of Lani and began duelling with the two bandits that had leaped forward. The bandits fought as a team, standing ready to guard one another's back. The third, the boy, for he couldn't have been much older than Zan was if he was even as old, stood back and waited to see whether he was needed. He kept an eye on Lani, who stood ready, arrow nocked and ready to fire. She had no intention of firing but what the boy didn't know couldn't hurt him, but it could keep her safe.

As the duel went on the boy got impatient and charged forward. Lani fired a warning shot over his shoulder but it didn't seem to stop him. He got closer, nearly in place, another meter and…

Wham! A huge broadsword came down and hit all three bandits across the head, with the nockblunt edge. The boy had moved perfectly into place just in time for Guiness to catch up and finish the plan. He took the coil of rope that he'd taken from the cart and began tying it around the Viera's wrists.

"Lookss like your plan was a sucssess," he said as Mist helped him hold up the limp bandit.

"It was nothing, really," Mist insisted.

"You need to take more pride in your work, Mist," Lani told her, "You did a good job."

"Perhaps not your slightly ego-prone level of pride, though," Zan quipped.

As the others laughed, Lani just smiled and shrugged it off. She was as aware as anyone that she had a tendency to let things go to her head, "So how are we going to lug these three all the way to Duntarine?" she asked, "I mean, we're still at least a day away and we can't walk or it'll take even longer."

"I'm sure Sstorm and Thunder can make the trip tonight if we rearrange thingss in the cart a bit for you two and them," Guiness said as he finished tying the human girl's wrists. Storm and Thunder, it had been revealed, were the names of the two chocobos, still standing calmly where they had been left.

* * *

After a bit of effort, Zan and Guiness had managed to "carefully" place the bandits in the cart where they couldn't move very much. Once in the cart, Guiness tied the three of them together at the wrists in a way so that none of them could reach the ropes to untie them. Lani and Zan sat on the front of the cart with their feet on a small ledge and their hands holding small hooks that Guiness had explained were used for tying rope to when holding down a bulging cargo, like hay.

"Hold on, kidss," Guiness shouted back, "We're going to have to pick up the passe to make it to Duntarine before dark so that we can turn thesse three in."

Lani had a look of fear in her eyes, and surprisingly, so did Zan, to a much lesser extent. Guiness flicked the reigns hard and Thunder and Storm took off like lightning. Midday was approaching but the journey across the plains would continue all day until they reached the port city. The bandits would wake soon enough and the less time spent dealing with them the better.

* * *

. . .

So, I hope that was worth the wait. My wonderful beta reader is reviewing chapter 11 already and I'll have that up within a week or two. I've got a few big things planned for the next few chapters so stay tuned. I still don't own Final Fantasy, however I did meet a guy from Atari last week.


	11. The Captain's Table

I thought I'd get started on this as soon as I could after my long break from writing. Here's…

Chapter 11

The sun was slowly setting towards the sparkling Northern Ocean. The sky was a warming orange to contrast the mild chill of evening. Torches had been lit on the walls of the nearby city of Duntarine and the sounds of a city, winding down for the night could be heard over the constant complaints of a certain trio…

"I'm hungry," Lani whined.

"Will you please stop saying that!" the female human bandit shouted, "You've been saying that for the past hour almost non-stop."

"I'm afraid that I must agree with them," Zan said calmly with an uncomfortable glance at the bandits.

"You're mean, you know that?" Lani replied, feigning hurt as she so often did.

As the cart approached the gate, two guards came over to greet the arrivals.

"Greetings travellers," the first said, addressing himself to Guiness. He was a human wearing polished knights armour, "May I ask your business in Duntarine this evening?"

"I'm here to ssee my uncle, and these three are adventuring," Guiness replied.

The second guard, a Moogle who was also wearing knights armour, looked quizzically at the three captives in the cart. "What about these three, kupo?" he asked.

"They're bandits," Lani replied, "They attacked us on our way here from Erebi. We fought and captured them so that we could turn them in here."

The first guard gestured to a few other guards inside the gate who came over to the cart. He turned back to Guiness, "We'll take them from here. The city thanks you all for your service," he moved over to Mist who was once again riding Storm, "Take this," he said as he handed her a small silver token, "And show it to the owner of whichever inn you want to get free boarding for the night."

"Thank you very much," Mist said as she examined the simple token before carefully pocketing it. It was just a smooth silver coin with the picture of a knight's helmet on it.

Meanwhile, the other guards had taken the bandits out of the cart and had untied the rope joining their bonds. They were now being taken away with a guard leading and trailing each of them. Lani and Zan moved back into the slightly more comfortable area of the cart.

The first guard spoke briefly with one of the guards who had taken the bandits, then waved them through, "You may proceed. Enjoy your stay in Duntarine."

As Guiness took the cart into the city he turned to Mist, "You know, ssince you have that token, I hope you don't mind if I head off to my uncle'ss place now. He'll be ssurprised when he ssees me since I wass planning to get here tomorrow morning after a sstop in Passedi, just easst of here."

"No, that's ok," Mist replied, "We should use the remaining light to find out what we can so that we can get searching as soon as possible tomorrow morning."

Guiness pulled the cart over and Mist dismounted Storm as Lani and Zan got out of the cart. "I ssuppose thiss is farewell, friendss," Guiness said to them as he shook their hands in turn, "Sstop by my place if you're ever in Erebi again."

"We shall," Zan replied.

The cart moved quickly into the streets beyond and once again, Mist, Lani and Zan were alone on their journey. The streets around them were fairly quiet bar the people slowly heading home from a long days work.

"How are we going to find out anything if everyone's going home?" Lani asked, "I mean, we can't exactly go door-knocking for info," she quipped.

"Maybe we can still ask people in the streets," Zan replied, "There are likely to be sailors and other locals near the docks so we should try there first."

"Ok," Mist agreed, "We'll try the docks."

The three friends wandered north through the city, noting the familiar features of the city that they recognised from home and the differences contrasting with it. Sandstone houses with rough, pale walls lined the streets and coloured tarps hung in front of some of them where stalls would have been set up only an hour ago. A variety of locals could be seen heading home or talking with neighbours. Moogles were fairly common, as should be expected in their ancestral city. Seeing them made Mist a little more comforted. They just had that look to them that put her at ease.

The sounds of the ocean picked up as they neared the docks. Enormous frigates and smaller ferries were moored along the piers taking up all but a few places in the harbour. Raucous laughter and shouts could be heard at intervals from a building near by with lights shining through the window, cutting the dim of evening. The sun was sitting on the horizon and was being repetitively blocked out by the ship at the eastern end of the pier, a ferry slightly larger than most and slightly weathered.

"So, are we going to just stand out here?" Lani asked, sounding irritated, "Or can we go inside? It's cold out here, and need I remind you…"

"You're hungry," Mist and Zan said in unison.

Lani frowned, Mist could tell she was feeling unappreciated, and she mumbled incoherently as she stomped her way towards the tavern. Mist and Zan followed close behind, Zan occasionally saying, "I heard that," to annoy Lani who continued to mumble.

The tavern was a lively place with people occupying most tables and bar maids serving meals and drinks all around the room. Lani's stomach began to growl when she smelled the aroma of grilled fish and a roast of some sort, either beef or lamb. All around the room, people had begun to take note of the new comers before they continued with their duties or their loud tales of adventure and sailing. All but one man, anyway.

He was a scruffy, aged man. He didn't look old exactly, just weathered, as though life had been hard on him through many years of adventures and travel. He sat in the corner of the room at the only table with any seats untaken, wrapped in his tanned overcoat and with his three-point sailors hat tilted down to almost cover his half closed eyes.

Mist looked around and, after a few moments of further stalling, she lead her friends to the man's table and they took seats opposite him.

"There somethin' I c'n do fer you kids?" he asked without even looking up.

"Umm, not really…" Mist muttered nervously as she sat down.

"Mist, grow some courage," Lani told her, "That depends," she directed to the man, "Who are you?"

The man smirked and lifted his eyes to the group, raising his hat to show his spiked brown hair and a slightly scared face. One scar in particular was notable on the left side of his face, just to the side of his eye. With a cocky tone, he introduced himself.

"I'm the best sea cap'n you'll ever meet. I've sailed every ocean an' sea in the whole darn world. Of course, you c'n jus' call me Cid," he told them with a tendency to shorten nearly any word he could.

"That's nice," Lani replied almost immediately, as though she'd been waiting for a chance to interrupt, which wouldn't have been unlike her, "But is there anything you can tell us about the apparent medical problem that the city's been having?"

Cid looked at her with a curious spark in his eye. He took a moment to glance at the other two before answering, "Now why would the three of you be interested in that?"

"We're trying to help a friend from Sandros," Zan replied, "She said that some of the herbs and other healing materials she needs from here aren't available any more. Why is that?"

"Well, there be a few stories that try to explain it," Cid said, sitting up straight and crossing his arms, but the truth o' the matter is, no one's a hundred percent sure why. All I know fer sure is that some o' the people that head to Loxdue don't come back."

"Loxdue?" Mist queried, "Where's that?"

Cid looked at her and cracked a slight smile. "So yer not as quiet as ya look after all," he said in a half laugh before explaining. "Loxdue Island is a big sandy rock west by north west of here. It's where the cactuars live. People from here take their ships there to try an' find the little pesky things and get some needles. Not the easiest thing to do in the best o' circumstances. Cactuars are fast little buggers, too. Most of the time, the so-called adventurers that head over there just find the needles on the ground where the cactuars have been. The problem recently, as I said, is that almost no one's been coming back."

"Wait," Lani interrupted, "Almost no one?"

"That's right," Cid replied, "There be a few that have made I back. Keep going on 'bout somethin' roaming the desert an' brewin' up storms. Load o' pig swill if ye ask me."

"Something roaming the desert…" Mist mused.

"You think…?" Zan asked her, implying the question without saying it in front of their new acquaintance.

Mist nodded, and then noticed Cid looking at them all quizzically. "Uhh…" she began.

Lani put her hand to her head and sighed. "We've been hearing rumours about a creature that's been roaming around all over the place," she interjected, "Some kind of dragon thing."

"Hmm, sounds interesting," Cid replied, "So I suppose yer gonna want to head over there an' check this thing out fer yerselves?" he asked.

"If that's where the problem is then I suppose we will," Zan answered.

Cid waved over a barmaid as he said, "Well in that case, I'll take you kids there in my ferry tomorrow. Too late fer any more adventuring today. Big, nasty beasties over there at night."

The barmaid brought over 4 small plates of fish and vegetables. The smell made Mist's stomach growl and Lani quite nearly started drooling.

"C'mon kids," Cid told them, "Dinner's on me."

"That's very generous of you," Mist said, a little startled to add to her nervous disposition.

"Well, Loxdue is all desert," Cid replied, "You'll be needin' yer strength tomorrow. An' remember to pack plenty o' water. A desert is a dangerous place without that."

* * *

The sun was setting in an amber sky as two haggard riders wandered towards a small town on their chocobos.

"Who could have beaten us to Sandros AND managed to stop the sounds from the tower?" Biggs asked his companion.

"I don't know," Wedge replied, "But they claimed to have been sent from Andandrea so perhaps we're dealing with some random adventurers who think they can take our jobs."

Biggs sat up proud on his mount and said in a confident voice, "Then we'll find them and stop them if it's the last thing we do," he announced. As soon as the words left his mouth, however, a deep growling sound could be heard from both their stomachs.

With a defeated sigh, Wedge managed to mumble, "But first let's get some food."

As they entered the town, only an hours ride from Sandros, the passed a small group of children playfully chasing an old, black and white cat. The chocoknights asked them directions to the inn and headed off to rest before beginning their new quest to hunt the impostors.

* * *

. . .

It's been too long since I had these guys in the story. I promise they'll be a bit more active in the near future. As for Cid, the misspellings are intentional as a part of his speech style. Something like Cid in Advent Children but not quite so hillbilly.


	12. Strangely Familiar

Chapter 12

After a fine meal of fish, the three heroes went out into the dim evening in search of the inn Cid had recommended for the night. They found the Grey Gull fairly quickly, not too far from the docks. The innkeeper was quite impressed with the silver token Mist handed her. The Mark of the Guard, she had called it. She gave the trio two rooms between them, free because of the token, and they settled in for the night.

"Mist," Lani half-whispered after they had settled into bed and turned out the lights.

"Hmm?" Mist grunted as a simple acknowledgement.

"I've been thinking," Lani continued, "If it is…you know who out there," she said with a tone close to fear in her voice before lightening a little, "What can we do? Is there anything we can do against him?"

Mist was silent for a moment. She hadn't thought that much about it either, and not for lack of caring. She was as frightened as Lani sounded, no, she was even more afraid. It was her destiny and she had to think of something.

"We'll talk about it in the morning," she told Lani, who hastily agreed. The two soon drifted off into troubled dreams, but Lani's were about to change.

* * *

Lani looked around but all she could see was darkness beyond the circle of pillars she was standing in. Upon closer examination of the intricate and decorative markings on each pillar, she presumed that each was designed to represent one of the nine races.

Although there was darkness in all directions, light seemed to surround the pillars from nowhere and everywhere all at once. Lani began looking carefully at the details of a few of the pillars. She walked cautiously across the dimly lit jet-black floor to the pillar with images of Viera on it. She walked its full circumference, trailing her hand along the pillar's surface. It was real, not just her imagination, and as she walked around the inside of the circle she debated with herself whether or not that was a good thing.

When she stopped, she was standing in front of the Nu Mou pillar. One of the images towards the bottom of the pillar reminded her of Meranim. She crouched to get a closer look and she thought as she stroked her fingers along the coarse, carved lines of the Nu Mou's face that Meranim might possibly be as old as the pillar.

Lani stood up once more and wandered further around the circle. As she passed the Moogle pillar she had the seemingly uncontrollable urge to poke the pom-pom on the largest image. Remembering a time long ago when she and Mist were very little, she laughed to herself.

Finally she came to the fairy pillar. She looked at the image that was just above eye height and thought about all those times back home when she had argued with her mother, how she'd wished for wings to let her fly away from everything. With a tear on the verge of forming in her eye, she stretched out her hand and softly touched the fairy's wings.

Suddenly, a shimmering glow surrounded the Viera, Nu Mou and Fairy pillars and three sparkling figures materialised in the centre of the circle. Lani curiously wandered between the figures and realisation began to dawn on her. She knew what was happening before the Viera's image opened its mouth to speak.

"Greetings, Lani," she began, "I am Shiva."

The three images were all wearing the dark blue, velvet robe of sorcerers. Shiva was a tall and pale skinned Viera with purest white fur and wavy silver hair. She had a somewhat fragile look yet spoke with great confidence in her voice.

"Uhh, hi," Lani replied, still a little uncertain about the specifics, since Mist hadn't mentioned exactly what her dream had entailed.

"No respect, this one," groaned the Nu Mou's image, "Do you not know to whom you speak?" The Nu Mou was an old woman with sparse grey hair atop a wrinkled grey head. She stood a foot or so shorter than Lani, or at least she would were the images not floating several feet above the floor.

"You're three of the Nine Sorcerers, right?" Lani answered, "I mean Sorceresses. Uhh, wait, I mean…"

The Fairy's giggling cut her off, "It's alright, child," she reassured her, "Exodus was always one for formalities and etiquette. My name is Asura."

After taking a moment to revise her thoughts, Lani opened her mouth to ask a question, "Why…"

"…Are you here?" Shiva finished, obviously anticipating the question, "Because your destiny requires it."

"_My_ destiny?" Lani echoed, "But I thought…"

"…That Mist was the only one bound to fate?" Shiva finished again, "No, child, she does not face that path alone. The three of you share a common quest, and it is vital to all that you succeed."

As Lani stood in the dark, the floor began to resolve into alternating red and cream, walls of amber and royal blue curtains came into view and tables of candles surrounded the room. Brilliant chandeliers overhead finished the image that every child was told of the Hall of Sorcery.

"When Mist spoke with Eve, she was taught of Omega and his past," Shiva announced, "But what she was told is far from the whole story. I shall impart upon you more of that tale. We were not alone in the capture of Omega. We were lead and aided by Alpha."

Lani stood there doe-eyed and nearly tripped over her own tongue as she exclaimed, "Alpha? THE Alpha? Daughter of Leviathan, the Dragon God. THAT Alpha?"

"She was our mentor, our leader and our friend," Shiva continued, "In that time more than one thousand years ago, she taught us much of what she knew about magic. With her guidance we wrote our spells, each one consisting of a simple motion, a complex focus and an incantation. The latter was unique to our written spells."

"Written spells?" Lani interjected, "Does that mean that you…"

"…Created other spells?" Shiva finished a third time, "Yes."

"Could I please finish a sentence around here?" Lani asked, beginning to get irritated, "Uhh, if you don't mind," she added after her mind caught up with her mouth.

Exodus harrumphed while Shiva and Asura giggled briefly. "My apologies," Shiva replied with a smirk, "But to answer your question; yes, we did create more spells. Alpha taught each of us a way to use a strong memory from our past as a focus to summon great power. Of course, because it required a personal and detailed memory, no one else could ever use that spell."

"Shiva," Exodus grumbled, "You've gone off topic again. You are supposed to be teaching this girl of Omega."

With a nod to her companion, Shiva returned her glance to Lani, "She is right. Where was I? Ahh, yes. Although we aided Alpha in Omega's defeat, she was the one who banished him. We were not nearly powerful enough to sentence one such as Omega to his prison. She banished Omega to a place beneath Crelanos with all of his evil creatures spawned of darkness. The war had seen some of the most vile abominations ever to walk this world, and I am glad to learn that Omega seems to be the only one to have surfaced this time."

"This time? He escaped before?" Lani asked, sounding somewhat shocked.

"That is a tale for another time," Shiva added, "We are uncertain as to who or what was responsible for his escape this time. If our assumptions are correct, though, you will find out soon enough, but until then there is little that can be done to actively seek the answers we need. For now, good luck on your journey. May Alpha's grace guide you."

With those final words of blessing, Lani began to fall uncontrollably into darkness.

* * *

As the sun rose across the dew covered plains and sparkling blades of emerald wavered in the early morning breeze, two men stood in the middle of a vast expanse of empty plains, confused.

"Biggs! Where are the chocobos?" Wedge shouted.

"Oh, like I'm supposed to know?" his equally distraught companion replied, "Do you see them? No. So I have no idea." As he looked around them, he saw nothing but grass and the occasional tree beyond the cleared patch of ground they'd found along the road. He let out a disappointed sigh, "I guess we're walking from here, eh Wedge?" he stated more than asked.

"No!" Wedge replied, "I won't stand for this outrageous thievery! We shall find the thieves and retake our mounts for we are…"

The two posed alongside one another, bent forward with their inner hand held up in a fist and their other hand swept outwards. They spoke together, as they always did to announce themselves, "Wedge and Biggs, the amazing Chocoknights!"

A previously unnoticed, strange, curled plant rolled slowly past the pair as they watched its pointedly ignorant passing.

"Why are we doing this?" Biggs asked, "There's no one for miles."

Wedge looked at his companion for a moment before slumping further forward, "You're right. Let's just get going."

After picking up and repacking what remained of their supplies, the two set out to continue their now lengthened journey in search of the would-be heroes.

* * *

. . .

I'd like to remind you all of my wonderful beta reader, Rurouni Saiyan. Thanks again for helping me to get this story just right. Everyone give her a big round of applause. (Listens to loud clapping) Couldn't have made it this far without you. I'd also like to ask for another round of applause for my new literary consultant. You all know him as the "Friend" who reviews this story. He's beginning to write his own story about something that happened 700 years before this story, with my permission of course. When he posts it I'll provide a link. He also helped me realise a few flaws in my story, so with his help I hope to vastly improve FFO and create a much deeper environment. In fact, Alpha was mostly his idea. Also I'd like to point out that I went through and corrected an error I made earlier in the story. "No Mou" has been corrected to "Nu Mou" throughout the story. I still don't own Final Fantasy.


	13. Gone With The Highwind

Yay! Another chapter. Not too much action this time round but I promise there's some coming soon. Just hang in there for the next chapter and I promise a creature or two will pop up. Maybe more. In the meantime, here's...

Chapter 13

Lani had not awoken after her meeting with the Sorceresses, but instead she fell into a different dream, a nightmare really, of being chased by something dark she couldn't quite see. As the sun rose, though, so did she.

A cold sweat covered her forehead and the fur that covered the back of her hands. She was shaking for a moment but regained her composure as Mist slowly sat up.

"You ok?" Mist yawned, stretching and covering her mouth at the same time.

Lani quickly whipped the sweat from her face as Mist closed her eyes momentarily in her yawn, "Fine," she replied, a little too quickly, "So, should we get ready?" she asked quickly so as to avert Mist from enquiring further.

Mist tilted her head slightly as she looked at Lani, "Yeah, Cid wants us to be at the pier as soon as possible," she replied. Lani knew Mist could see that something was troubling her, but she also knew she wouldn't pry if Lani didn't offer to speak about it. Lani wasn't like that, but she couldn't help it. It was in her nature to be overly curious.

As they prepared themselves for their day in the desert, they stripped their packs of everything that they wouldn't need and divided the food in Lani's bag. That was one of the few supplies they would need. A knock on the door announced Zan, and with permission from Mist, he entered to help pack and prepare for their brief journey. He handed out the bottles from his pack to Mist and Lani.

"We should carry a few bottles of water each, and I'll keep a few extra for an emergency," he declared.

As they filled their empty bottles, Lani thought back to her dream. Or was it a vision? She wasn't sure. Regardless, she felt it best to say what she'd seen.

After her explanation, Mist frowned and looked concerned. Lani knew Mist wouldn't be thrilled to hear about her dream, but she could feel something wrong with her friend. "Mist?" she asked, "What's the matter?"

Mist flinched at the sound of her name. "It's just…" she began as she turned to stare at the half filled bottle she held in her hand, "This was meant to be my destiny. I…I don't want anyone else to be put in danger because of me."

"Mist," Zan said as he placed his hand on her shoulder, "We're all in this together. For better or worse."

Lani could see that this was really bugging Mist. She hadn't reacted to Zan's hand at all, something that would usually have evoked a blush or at least a sideward glance. Mist merely sat there looking like the weight of the world was pressing down on her heart.

"How are we supposed to do something that even Alpha, powerful as she was, couldn't do?" Mist asked with barely a trace of hope in her voice.

"Oh, get a hold of yourself, Mist," Lani almost yelled at her, sick of Mist's moping and with her face red, though not from anger, "We'll find a way, and until then we can't give up. It's our unsworn, yet unavoidable, duty," she swallowed hard, "Even if it does mean squaring off against an indestructible demonic war-machine," she said with a forced, shaky and completely unconvincing smile.

"Come on," Zan interrupted, "We have to finish filling these," he lifted an empty bottle, "So that we can get to the dock and find out what's wrong on Loxdue."

* * *

The sun was well above the horizon as the trio found their way to the dock. The gulls filled the air with wing and cry, and the salty smell was as strong there as anywhere else in town. As they moved along the pier past all of the ships, Mist, Lani and Zan checked the names of each vessel looking for the one named "Highwind".

"I bet I know which one it is," Lani said, not sounding very happy about her insight, "But I hope to Alpha I'm wrong."

As the trio reached the end of the docks they came across the least appealing ferry there, seeming to revel in disrepair and almost certainly unseaworthy. The word "Highwind" was emblazoned across the port bow.

"There has to be a mistake," Mist moaned.

"Perhaps we misheard the captain last night. I saw a "Nightwind" back there…" Zan replied only to be cut off by a familiar face popping over the railing of the Highwind.

"It's about time ya got here," Cid shouted to the trio, "Come on, climb aboard so's we can get goin'."

As the captain walked away from the bow, Mist and Zan proceeded to the gangplank. Lani followed close behind, but not without taking the proper moment to proclaim, "We're doomed," with an appropriate air of glumness and a resigned sigh.

The Highwind looked as drab and neglected on deck as it did from the dock. Small portions of rail looked as though they could fall off at the slightest touch, parts of the mast were splintered, ropes sat everywhere, there was…something smelly in a bucket sitting near the mast and a rat ran by them, making Mist jump as it scurried across the deck. It ran along the side of the decrepit cabin only to come to a violent stop when a spear pierced it from around the corner. The rat vanished swiftly in a small wisp of smoke as Cid came around the corner.

"Well, don't jus' stand there," Cid shouted, "Git yer keisters in gear and help me git this ole girl ready t' set sail." The three friends looked at one another and then back at Cid.

"Help by doing what, exactly?" Zan enquired.

Cid paused in the middle of gathering ropes from around the deck, "Well one of ya c'n drag aboard the gangplank, and another c'n pull loose the mooring line…"

"Don't you have a crew for this?" Lani interjected.

"Nope," replied Cid, "Can't afford 'un."

"Evidently not," Zan uttered under his breath as he looked around the unsightly deck.

The trio helped Cid as he directed them in the procedure for setting sail. Mist and Lani untied and secured ropes while Zan turned the helm wheel towards the open sea and Cid unfurled the mainsail. Soon enough, the ship was underway and Cid told the 'youngens' that they could take a break. With nothing to do, Mist found a place in the bow to rest and watch the streaks of clouds, still tinted with the glow of morning light. The sight was comforting, something that Mist always found relaxing. She made her way to the hills just South of Andandrea all the time so that she could just lay back and watch the clouds float by.

Lani's grunt of irritation brought Mist back to the ship. As she looked back towards the middle of the deck, Lani was sitting with her arms crossed looking angry at a small pile of dice in front of her. Zan, sitting opposite her, stifled a laugh behind a hand.

"Care for a rematch?" he asked.

Mist walked up to her friends and sat cross-legged next to Lani. "What are you two doing?" she asked.

"Oh yeah," Lani replied, "I never got around to telling you. There was this new game someone came up with back in Andandrea about a week before we left. Here, we'll explain it to you."

Lani and Zan both picked up five, six-sided dice from the deck. Lani had a set of orange dice, while Zan's dice were blue.

"The aim of the game," Zan began, "Is to have a higher score than your opponent after two rounds. Your score is the difference of the two rounds."

Lani and Zan rolled their dice at the same time and a jumble of blue and orange dice spilled onto the deck between the duelling pair. Zan's roll seemed to have been much higher than Lani's.

"Now, we have the opportunity to choose from these dice any that we wish to re-roll," Lani continued from Zan's explanation, "In this case, I've rolled a low round except for a single five. I'll choose to roll it again and hope for a lower number. Zan, on the other hand has a high roll but might choose to re-roll his two threes."

Lani picked up her dice that had a five facing up and Zan in turn took up his two threes. The pair rolled their dice again, and to Lani's disappointment, Zan had rolled a five and a six while she had rolled a six.

"Ok, so after the first round," Zan announced, "I have score twenty-five, while Lani has scored thirteen. This isn't such a bad thing for Lani, as I may yet score another high round and she may score highly as well. In that case, she is likely to have a bigger gap between her two scores."

The two took up their dice again, shook them briefly in their hands and after a poorly hidden blow on her dice, Lani rolled just as Zan's dice had stopped showing a very low score.

"Ahh, not again!" Lani growled, "That makes six times now. I can't believe you got a nine. That makes your score fourteen."

"Which is ironically your second round total," Zan replied, thus meaning that Lani's final score was in fact one.

"I think I get the idea," Mist replied, "It seems like a fairly simple game."

"Yeah," Lani smirked, "But it's addictive, and since it's so quick you can play over and over. People started playing for money back home. It's turned into a popular little bar game…" she finished with a slight reddening in her cheeks, "Not that I hang out in bars when I'm not with you guys," she added.

Mist began to open her mouth, a knowing look in her eye, but Lani stopped her by pulling something from her pocket and holding it out to Mist. It was a small, leather pouch. "For you," Lani said.

As Mist took it she could hear a clacking sound inside. She thought she knew what she would find but was surprised at the contents.

"Why are there so many different dice in here?" she asked.

"There are five of each type," Zan stated, "You can play this game with as many of any type of dice as you want. Most people just stick with five dice, but they vary the number of sides." Zan stood, turning to the rear of the ship, "I'll go and ask Cid how long the journey should take."

The winds were fair and the journey swift, but Mist didn't know how far the island was from Duntarine and thus she had no way of judging the time the trip would take.

"I just hope we end up with enough time to figure out this mystery today," she mused almost to herself, "I don't particularly want to have to wander around in a desert for more than one day."

* * *

. . .

Wow, it's been a while since I finished a chapter. I had a really bad case of writers block before I came up with my new dice mini-game. I think I'll try it out sometime. Anyway, I hope you don't mind how long I've taken to get this done. All five or so of you that made it this far through my story. It's kinda sad to look at the drop off of hits. Plenty of people have at least glanced at chapter 1, but only five people have made it through the latest chapters. :(

I still don't own Final Fantasy.


	14. Luck Of The Dice

Oh yeah, I'm back in a writing mood. I've been working at this for a while now. I'm coming up to something big. Many big things, actually. If you want to know what, you'll have to wait and see. For now, here's…

Chapter 14

The sun rose once more over two companions in the vast plains of Cyndaria, a deep sense of purpose kept them going towards the city of Duntarine. The fact that they had been walking for hours on end with little nourishment and little shade in the heat of the sun while wearing the full scale armour of a chocoknight may have added to their haggard appearance.

"Is it much further to Duntarine?" Biggs asked his partner.

"I honestly don't know," Wedge replied, looking all around him, "There isn't much to mark the plains around here except for the sparse and similar tree patches. I can't tell where we are exactly. We just have to keep following this road."

"Kweee," came the familiar sound wafting through the air.

"Biggs, did you hear that?" Wedge asked as he held his hand to his ear.

"I did," Biggs replied, "It was definitely a chocobo, and it was nearby too."

The pair began scouring the horizon looking for the source of the sound they'd heard. Suddenly, from a thick patch of trees near them, a wild chocobo strolled out, stopping to peck at the ground. It was facing away from the two now grinning knights and gave no indication that it was even slightly aware of them.

"Let's sneak up on it," Wedge suggested, whispering to his partner.

With a nod from Biggs, the pair began to creep quietly towards the unsuspecting fowl. As they drew near, the knights took great care to keep their armour from clanking and giving away their presence. They were within only a few meters when Wedge nodded at Biggs and the two pounced upon the chocobo. Unfortunately for them, the bird had other plans.

Having been aware of the presence of two people, the chocobo had stood in wait for the appropriate moment to take action. When it heard the pair pounce it lifted a large talon and landed a devastating kick to Biggs, collecting Wedge in midair and knocking both of them back to the road.

The chocobo turned and chirped at them with a look of humour in its eyes as it jumped in joyous amusement.

"Biggs, get off me," Wedge said, being pinned down by his partner who was clutching his stomach.

"Ouch," replied Biggs as he got up and noted the light dent in his chest scales.

As the two rose to their feet, the chocobo turned away and raced off into the distance.

Biggs turned to his companion, "Walking again?" he asked.

"Looks like it," Wedge replied as he gave a sigh and lowered his gaze to the dusty road that led beyond the horizon to Duntarine.

* * *

Twelve. That score made the fifteenth win in a row for Mist. Lani, sitting opposite her, plucked at the stitches of her jeans with a mild look of irritation in her eyes. She picked up her dice and held them close to her face.

"Why do I even bother?" she mused to them, "We have to be getting close, right?" she asked Mist with a look of near desperation, obviously wanting an excuse to stop playing.

A shadow crossed Mist's dice that still lay on the deck between the girls as Zan approached from the cabin, "We're more than just close," he announced, "We've arrived."

Standing up, Mist looked beyond the starboard bow of the ship and saw a crudely built jetty protruding from a sandy slope, the lowest point she could see along the cliff-like wall the made up the edges of Loxdue Island, extending miles to either side.

"This is yer stop," Cid said from behind them, turning the helm wheel to the right and bringing the ship in line with the end of the jetty. He hastily gestured to the ropes along the port railing, "Git ready t' jump ashore an' tie off the mooring line," he shouted.

"I'll do it," Lani volunteered. She was quite likely taking any excuse to get off the ship as soon as possible. She had no problem with water or boats but she hated being stuck in one place for too long.

As the ship made its approach, she leapt over the railing with rope in hand and tied it off. Zan threw her another rope and she tied that off as well.

"All done," she shouted. Cid peered over the side of the ship and examined her work.

"Not bad, kid," he said more to himself than to Lani, "But ya got a lot t' learn." The captain moved the gangplank in place and walked down to the pier and over to one of Lani's knots where he crouched and examined it. "C'mere," he said and gestured for Lani to come closer. He untied the hastily wrapped bundle of rope and coiled it around his hand. "This is how ya tie a rope," he told her. With a few simple flicks of the rope and some twists and pulls, Cid tied a tight knot that would hold the boat firmly.

"Hehe," Lani breathed, "Looks a lot better than my mess, that's for sure."

Cid stood up and began walking to the other knot. "I'll stay 'ere till you kids git back," he announced, "Have fun, an' don't go pickin' on anythin' bigger than yerself. There're some nasty pests out 'ere."

With thanks for the advice, the trio gathered their belongings from the ship and climbed the sandy slope leading to the island's desert core. As they reached the peak of the dune, the friends were met with a stunning view of a sea of sand before them stretching nearly without end. Dunes rose and fell in all directions and sand floated on the wind like a fog of dust at ankle height. Desert cacti and rocky outcrops dotted the sandscape, as did a number of desert dwelling creatures. From their vantage point, the trio could spot a number of large lizard creatures near most of the rocks in sight, the occasional sandy-brown wolf and the most frightening, a large moving bulge in the sand. On the night when Cid had told them about Loxdue, he had told them to beware a large moving sand dune. He'd said it was some kind of worm or something, and that it would leap up and swallow anything that got too close. Thankfully, the bulge was a long way off and moving away.

"So, now that we're here," Lani began, still looking out into the desert, "What exactly are we supposed to do?"

"Well," Mist began, "I suppose we should start by finding a cactuar."

"Umm," Lani interrupted, "Don't they just look like a cactus? There are cacti everywhere," she gestured to the expanse beyond them to emphasize her point. "How the heck are we going to find one in this place without fighting our way through all of these creatures? Personally, I don't want to end up as worm food."

"An apt point," Zan replied, "This may prove to be a tough job."

As the trio started off down the dune towards the nearest cactus, packs on backs and weapons drawn, they were startled by a small cloud of sand that sped from out of sight to stand immediately in front of them. As the cloud settled, the form of a small cactus appeared before them. Two oval eyes sat above a small moustached mouth, the mark of a cactuar.

"Uhh, that was easier than I thought," Lani quipped.

The cactuar jumped and flipped in front of them making a strange sound that could almost pass for language.

"I think it may be trying to tell us something," Zan mused as he crouched to look the creature in the eye. It stared back and squeaked at him again.

"This isn't too helpful," Mist grumbled, "It's telling us something but we don't have a clue what," she crossed her arms and slouched, tilting her head as she regarded the bouncing cactus.

"Perhaps I could be of help," came a familiar voice.

* * *

The sand lifted and sank in the wake of the subterranean serpent. A call had reached its ear, a call from afar. Something it had not heard in what seemed a lifetime. _Drakona, jal verocia,_ in the Dragon tongue it meant 'Follow my voice, Brother'. Someone had called to it and it would listen. The sound had come from the north, so north is where it had gone.

A small pack of wolves scattered in fear as the mound of shifting sand charged towards them, but the serpent would not bother them, this time. It had somewhere to be. Beneath the sand, rocks and stone outcroppings were beginning to restrict its movement, so it paused to listen again.

_Renach_. Rise.

A rumble began to shift sand in all directions as the bulge of the serpent disappeared. Suddenly, a storm of sand and shards of stone were hurled into the air as tall, imposing silhouette loomed over the desert.

Another form could be seen in the cloud of dust as well. At first glance of the silhouette it looked like a well-built man, but as the sand cleared a green, scaly skin, devilish wings and a barbed tail became apparent. Those red-on-black eyes stared upon the dark being before it. Omega smirked as he hissed at the serpentine form in the Dragon tongue.

"Drakona, servatu choulon. Devulore!" Brother, find the children. Devour.

With a lashing of its tail and another storm of dust, the enormous creature was gone and the bulge of sand returned. It set off to the west, towards its prey.

Omega stood at the edge of the desert, shrouded in another cloud of sand and mused to himself.

"Soon," he half spoke, half hissed, "Soon I will be strong enough to fight them myself. My brother should be enough to deal with them now, though. They must not find the Moogle's lab before me."

* * *

. . .

Ok, well now that that's done I'm going to get straight back to writing. I have such long breaks at uni that the most productive thing I have to occupy my time lately is writing. I think you'll see another chapter here within a week or so, maybe sooner.

I still don't own Final Fantasy.


	15. Tides of Sand

Well, I've tried quite hard and written quickly, and my wonderful beta reader, Rurouni Saiyan, has been very quick to respond, so without further ado here's...

Chapter 15

The trio turned to see…nothing. Where had the sound come from?

"Down here, kupo," said the strangely deep voice again.

The friends looked down to see a Moogle standing before them in a blue sorcerer's robe, hood drawn back to reveal a blue pom-pom and a tan furred face with big golden yellow eyes. His wings protruding from the back of the robe were still as he stood quite low to the ground. The most unusual thing about him was the fact that he was nearly transparent.

Lani and Zan took half a step back, but Mist crouched to look the Moogle in the eye.

"…Fenrir?" she asked, recalling the Moogle from her dreams.

"The very same," replied the illusionary sorcerer, "I am projecting myself through your minds, something not easily done or explained, kupo. I can, however, tell you what this little fellow here is saying."

Fenrir approached the cactuar, "What's the matter, kupo?" he asked the bouncing plant creature.

The cactuar looked at him and started to squeak again, bouncing with a full side flip every once in a while. It was quite an acrobatic conversation. Finally, Fenrir turned around to address the trio again.

"It would seem," he explained, "That the cactuars have been having troubles lately because of what they call 'The Mouth of the Desert'. This one has been looking for adventurers that could help them but they all attack him. He was almost willing to give up until you three arrived, kupo. He said that the cactuars are all hiding while the Mouth wanders the desert and won't come out until something is done. It sounds like you'll have to get rid of this 'Mouth of the Desert' to find the cactuars, kupo."

"Can he tell us anything more about this thing?" Mist asked.

The cactuar bounded and squeaked again and Fenrir translated. "He says that the bulge of sand is the Mouth as it travels under the desert's surface," Fenrir explained, "From the sound of it, this could be a very kupo challenge for you."

"Something tells me that you haven't come here simply to translate for us," Zan interrupted, "If I may be so presumptuous, what is it you came for?"

Fenrir looked up at the group "I cannot maintain my projection for much longer long so I'll get to the point," he began, "My personal hideaway was on this island, and over many centuries I expect it still is, somewhere."

The illusionary Moogle turned back towards the open desert, "It may be tough to find," he continued, "But I'm afraid you must, kupo. I hid something very valuable there, a parchment with a powerful spell on it. You may recall that Omega stole a parchment from Exodus' hiding place at the top of the Mage's Tower," his tone beckoning a response.

"Yes," Zan replied, "It was hidden in the wall. However," he continued, gesturing to the desert, "I see a distinct lack of walls in our current location. Where is yours hidden?"

"It's been a millennium since I was here last, kupo," Fenrir retorted, "I cannot recall exactly where it is. These dunes don't make for easy navigation over time."

Lani gave a deep sigh, "You mean we have to search through the sand for it with no bearing and no clues? Do you remember anything that can help us?"

Fenrir looked back at her, then tilted his head and looked to the sky as he thought. "Perhaps," he mused, "I recall the view from the entrance had a jagged rocky patch to the left, a thick patch of cacti to the right, over the top of where my underground water supply was, and I could see the cliffs at the edge of the island straight ahead. Also, this place where the ships come to has not changed since then, kupo. It must be southwest of here."

As he finished, Fenrir's image began to fade. If he had been nearly transparent before, you had to know where and what to look for to know he was there now.

"When you find my lab I shall be able to return," he called to them, his voice fading as well, "Good luck, kupo."

The image faded completely from view and the friends were left with a cryptic description of an ancient location to find.

"Plants die," Zan began, "More frequently so in an inhospitable place such as this. Rocks erode, most often when around water or coarse and active particles such as sand. Finally and most irritatingly, sand shifts over time. Even if we did find one of these features, the likelihood that any of the others was not covered by sand is quite low. Worse still, there is a high probability that all of the features that we seek are under the dunes. So, what do we do?"

Mist looked out towards the desert, sand flowing across its surface and creatures wandering around between the dunes.

"Search and hope," she answered, "At least we know it's near the cliffs. That much can't have changed too drastically."

"I dunno," Lani replied, "The cliffs could erode too. I'd say this'll be about as easy as finding a cactuar needle in a haystack."

"Speaking of cactuar needles," Zan interrupted, "How about we start by getting this little fellow," he gestured to the cactuar, "To take us to his friends? It's a start. Perhaps they know where Fenrir's lab is."

"Or maybe where some water is," Mist replied, "We know that the cacti that grew near Fenrir's lab were over his water supply. Perhaps the water is still there, and the cacti too!"

"Not a bad plan, Mist," Lani told her with a pat on the back.

Mist began to blush, "It was nothing."

"Ok, then," Zan said, turning to the cactuar, "Can you show us to a thick group of cacti, or somewhere where there is water underground?" he asked it.

The cactuar squeaked and bounced, turning towards the southern coastline and zipping ahead a few meters before turning around. It bounced again, looking quite excited.

"I'll take that as a yes," Lani quipped.

The three friends followed the cactuar along the sandy dunes towards the southern side of the island. The occasional swirl of sand blew up around them, forcing them to stop momentarily, but there was little else bothering them. That, obviously, would not last.

"How long have we been walking?" Lani whined.

"Probably about five minutes more than the last time you asked," Mist retorted, "We only stopped for a drink break then and we're not stopping again any time soon. Please quit complaining."

"Well excuse…" Lani cut herself short as she twitched her ears.

"Lani?" Zan asked.

"Something's coming," she replied.

Almost as soon as she'd said it, a group of four sand lizards crept over the dune to their north. The pale grey creatures hissed and stared at the party below them. They were around two meters long, and their forked tongues appeared to protrude from hard beaks. As they slowly crept down the dune in a sort of zig-zag manner, the trio put down their packs and readied themselves with their already drawn weapons.

As the lizards drew closer, the cactuar fled over the large dune to their south.

"I really hope he comes back when we're done," Lani whinged, "I don't want to wander around here forever."

Before the others could chide their friend for her constant complaints, the lizards sped forward in a direct charge. Lani immediately let fly at the front lizard, striking it in the back when it ducked. It stopped to let out a strange hissing growl as the others passed it. One approached Mist and sidestepped her first swing to come around to her side. A quick shot from Lani pierced its neck and it vanished into a cloud of smoke, blown quickly away in a gust of sand. At the same time, another lizard leapt at Zan, skewering itself on his rapier as he ducked to the side. The remaining two lizards stood beside one another, the injured one swaying side to side with its legs. Before the trio could figure it out, the lizard was surrounded by a blue glow. As a cloud of sand swept past it, a pale, near-transparent hexagonal patterned barrier around the reptile repelled the particles.

"It cast protect," Lani called to her allies, "Hit it hard and fast," she added as she loosed another arrow at their foes.

The shaft spiked through the weaker lizard's head and it fell to the ground and vanished bar a few scales from its hide. Creatures that lived in remote areas would quite likely not have encountered adventurers to steal items from. As such, the only thing that they would leave behind, if anything, was a part of themselves. A scale, a feather, a bone or even a small chunk of fur could be found depending on the creature defeated. Creatures in more populated areas could leave similar things behind but were less likely to because of the items they had consumed such as potions or gil.

As the third lizard collapsed, the fourth and final creature lunged forward. Mist and Zan both sidestepped it and stabbed at it with their swords. Both attacks broke through the barrier around the lizard, however they only managed to scratch the creature's hide and no more.

Lani quickly slung her bow over her shoulder and held out her arm as the reptile lunged towards her.

"Blizzard!" she shouted as she flung her arm outwards, leaving a stream of icicles flying at the lizard. The shards pierced the barrier as though it weren't even there and spiked through the lizard's tough scales. In a moment, it cringed with another hissing growl and fell to the ground, vanishing like its companions in a cloud of smoke carried away with the sand.

As the trio gathered their belongings and found their foes remains, Mist climbed towards the top of the southern sand dune. As she neared the peak she was suddenly greeted by the runaway cactuar. It leapt up and bounced over the top of the dune towards her. Shocked by its sudden appearance, Mist stumbled backwards, arms flailing to try to reassert her balance. Just as she was about to topple over, she stopped. Curious, she tilted her head backwards and looked straight up into Zan's face.

"Uhh…" she began, blushing.

"Geez, Mist," Lani interrupted with a subtle hint of humour in her voice, "Watch where you're going."

Mist quickly righted herself and unnecessarily brushed imaginary sand off her pants. He must have seen me blush, she thought, maybe I should say something… She turned towards Zan and opened her mouth to say something.

"Za-" she started but was immediately hushed by her Viera friend.

"Shh," Lani told her, "I think I hear something."

Mist and Zan looked puzzled at one another and strained to hear something for themselves. Alas, nothing.

"Lani, are you sure you-" Mist began to ask when suddenly the ground began to shake a little.

"It seems our little friend may have a good plan," Zan commented. Mist turned around to see the cactuar running east along the top of the sand dune to their south and eventually disappearing over the other side.

"I think you're right," Mist replied as the rumbling continued to intensify.

The friends hastily dashed up and over the dune to the south and ran to catch up to their cactuar companion. Ahead of them, a patch of cacti could be seen, and whether it was by a mirage or not, some of them seemed to be moving.

"Do you think that's them?" Mist asked openly.

"I think we may have a greater concern," Zan replied as suddenly the dune beside them erupted only twenty or so meters ahead. Within the cloud of sand, a figure could be seen. A serpent with bright red eyes…

* * *

. . .

Ooo, I'm evil. Another cliffy. What will happen next? What is the mysterious desert creature? Will our heroes survive? Ok, that last one should be obvious or the story wouldn't go on much longer. Well, technically only one of them has to survive for the story to continue. Hmm, and they don't have to be healthy when the fight is over. Who knows what will happen next…

I still don't own Final Fantasy.


	16. The Better Part Of Valor

(Insert Square-Enix classic boss fight music here!) That's right, it's a boss! Ooo, this should be fun. The last 'boss', the chimera, wasn't much of a challenge but this time it's going to be interesting. And so, here's…

Chapter 16

The menacing creature loomed half out of the sand from where it had burst forth from the dune. As the sand cleared, a vicious coppery-scaled hide revealed itself. First was the thick and scaled body, followed by two thin and frail looking wings, definitely not strong enough to lift the beast. Finally, and most frighteningly, was the creature's head. Bright red eyes shone through even before the sand had dissipated, but they were even more evil and aggressive when they could be seen fully. Its jaw was immense, like a small cave with razer sharp teeth dripping with saliva and stained with blood. A forked tongue protruded from the 'Mouth of the desert', flicking towards the three adventurers.

"When Cid said 'worm'," Zan began, "I don't think he meant 'worm'," he pointed to the ground, "I think he meant 'wyrm'," he finished, pointing to the sky.

"I think you may be right," Lani replied, "Ideas?"

"Umm, I'm up for running," Mist answered, with a touch of fear in her words.

"Something tells me that's not an option," Lani shouted in reply, drawing her bow and nocking an arrow. Mist and Zan dropped their packs and drew their swords. This would be a very 'kupo' challenge for them indeed.

The wyrm began to make a growling or harsh roaring sound that almost sounded like it was talking to them in some primitive way. Not for long, though, as it shifted itself to draw more of its long scaled hide from beneath the dune. It reared up and loomed over them in a very imposing way. Its jaw slowly opened wider and its eyes fixed in their direction.

Mist, although staring intently at the foe poised to strike above her, from the corner of her eye noticed something moving. When she discreetly looked down towards the wyrm's tail, she saw the bounding cactuar who had been guiding them leaping about, and running away behind the creature. The odd thing is that it stopped periodically and looked back at them.

"I think he may have an idea," Zan said, surprising Mist who hadn't realized that anyone else had seen the plant creature.

"I'm up for running," Mist replied, repeating her earlier conviction. The trio quickly looked from one to the other and nodded.

"I hope you all read the scroll Meranim gave us," Zan said as he held his hands out. As the friends were leaving Meranim's house back in Sandros, the kindly old Nu Mou had offered the friends an old scroll. It was something used to teach yourself a spell by describing, in great detail, the focus and hand gestures. The accompanying pictures were also of great help for learning quickly.

The three friends, in near synchronous motion, held their right arm up in front of them and their left arm down and to their left. Next, with great care given to the speed, they moved their arms in a clockwise direction until they met at the top, the right arm obviously moving faster than the left. All the while, they envisioned a pocket-watch speeding up to a blur. Finally, with their hands held at the apex, they shouted together, "Haste!"

A faint orange aura surrounded each of them, and suddenly the world seemed to move slower. They grabbed their bags in a blur of hands and kicked-up sand, and ran straight past the wyrm before it had a chance to strike. Noticing their hasty retreat, the serpent twisted to face its fleeing prey and started to slither after them.

"I hope we can find somewhere to hide soon," Mist shouted, slightly slurred by their hasted status, "I think it's catching up!" Indeed, the wyrm was very slowly gaining ground against them from a hundred meters back or so.

Suddenly the cactuar leapt up from a small sandy hill that seemed rather odd in the vast expanses of huge dunes. There was something else odd about the scene, too, but Mist couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Look, the huge patch of cacti," Lani shouted, "And there's the ocean off that way," she added pointing south towards the cliffs barely visible in the distance.

Thinking quickly from her friend's observations, Mist leapt up off a rocky point protruding from a short dune and held out her hands, wrists together.

"Aero!" she shouted, stirring up a swirl of sand near the tiny cactus. As the sand shifted, the small hill revealed a door set in stone, tilted slightly and worn by centuries of sand.

"Get in, hurry!" Zan shouted, as the seemingly slow serpent continued to advance towards them.

As Lani curiously easily opened the ancient stone door, the nearby patch of cacti suddenly leapt up and charged towards the open passageway. Cactuars of varying sizes and proportions started charging down the darkened staircase leaving little space for anything else. As the trio stood by at the door, the serpent loomed ever closer, rearing up to strike. The last of the cactuars rushed through the door and their guide, who had been standing above the door, jumped down to follow them, the trio rushed inside, Zan staying back to pull the door closed behind them. The moment the door slammed closed, a heavy thud shook the cavern. The serpent had likely tried in vain to strike at them and hit the doorway instead.

"Fire," came Lani's voice from behind Mist. A light glow began to illuminate the dark stone staircase.

As Mist looked around, all she could see was the stone door they had come through and a slowly downward spiralling staircase disappearing out of the flame's light around the corner. The large army of cactuars that had preceded their entry were nowhere to be seen, yet a mass of squeaking could be heard below. As Mist turned back from the stairs to her friends, the glow surrounding the trio vanished and the flame's light didn't seem quite so bright.

"Going down?" Lani asked in a sufficiently deep and creepy tone from behind her fireball.

"Do we have a choice?" Mist replied, unaffected by her friend's attempt to scare her. Lani had always found a source of entertainment making Mist scared, but it was always light hearted and she always made sure Mist was ok afterwards.

Zan grinned and held his hand up behind Lani. He slowly and quietly lowered it, then quickly cupped Lani's shoulder. Lani screamed, spinning and pointing the fireball forwards, illuminating Zan's face in an eerie way.

"After you," he said, almost chuckling as he did, "After all, you have the light source."

If looks could kill, Zan would be mortally wounded. Not for the first time. Recently, Zan had taken Lani's idea of scaring Mist and decided to get the last laugh. Mist had found it rather comforting after her momentary scares. She grinned at him, remembering the last time he'd done it, back home. Lani had placed a fake spider on Mist's head during lunch a month ago. As soon as she nodded, the spider toy had fallen into her lap and she'd leapt up screaming. A few passers by had stopped to try and work out what had happened, and quickly moved on when Lani almost fell from her seat in the plaza, laughing. As she righted herself and sat back down, she placed her hand beside her for balance and leapt up screaming herself. Zan had placed the toy spider immediately under her hand as she was sitting down.

Mist had blushed when she looked at Zan then and he had seen it. She was glad that the flame's light wasn't very strong, or he would quite likely have seen it again. It had only been minutes since the last time he had, and surely he'd put two and two together this time.

_I'll tell him,_ Mist told herself. _When I'm ready, I'll tell him._

The trio, after sorting themselves out, proceeded down the staircase. They had barely gone five steps before the whole passageway shuddered.

"What, in Alpha's name, was that?" Lani asked, crouching and adopting a somewhat feeble position.

"Get a hold of yourself, Lani," Mist chided with mock confidence.

"I would say our draconic friend has decided to try to break in," Zan announced.

Sand was knocked loose from the walls and roof of the small passageway. Small, as it was designed for a Moogle. Whoever had built it, quite possibly Fenrir himself, had probably designed the stairs and dimensions of the tunnel with the intent for it to be used by a Moogle. The fact that the trio could almost walk fully upright suggested that the possibility of someone else, such as an Elf or a Human, may use the tunnel on occasion, however a Bangaa or a Golem would never be able to fit through the door.

"I say we keep moving," Mist suggested, "I'm feeling a little cramped in here."

The friends continued down the passageway, the sound of cactuars getting louder. Every now and then, another thud could be heard and felt, varying in strength and sometimes feeling to be quite close. If the wyrm was attacking the tunnel, it was doing so from under the sand. Eventually, the tunnel straightened and the trio encountered the cactuars, backed up in the tunnel from a point too far ahead to see clearly.

"Well, this ought to be an easy obstacle," Lani quipped.

"We can just ask them to go back past us one at a time," Mist suggested, standing to one side of the tunnel and observing the minimal distance between her and the wall on the other side. "On second thought, maybe not," she added.

"Ahem, Mist," Lani replied, "Why not try that again without your backpack on?"

Mist held her hand up behind her and felt the distance between her and the wall she had backed up against. Indeed, her bag was keeping her a fair distance from the wall.

"Hehe, yeah," Mist whispered, removing her pack and backing closer to the wall. Zan and Lani followed her lead and made space for the cactuars.

"Excuse me," Mist started, "Umm, excuse me?"

The cactuars continued to shuffle around, squeaking and occasionally bounding over one another, barely missing the roof of the tunnel. They had not changed their behaviour when Mist had addressed them, quite possibly not having even heard her.

"HEY!" Lani shouted at the top of her voice, and a sudden hush fell over the cactuars. "Thank you," she continued, "Could you all please move to the side and back up so that we can get through."

The cactuars looked at one another, squeaking a little. After a few moments, one little cactuar stood forward and walked back past the trio. Mist thought it was the one that had lead them through the desert but she couldn't quite tell in the dim light.

Soon enough, the rest of the cactuars began to follow. After a minute or two, the plant creatures had all moved back or to the side of the tunnel, leaving enough room for the trio to get past them and find what had been stopping them. Upon reaching the end of the passage it levelled out, and the friends came to another stone door.

"No wonder they were stuck," Zan commented, "No fingers."

Mist chuckled a little before helping Lani and Zan to pull at the door. They came to a problem, however. The door, it appeared, was sealed.

"Great," Mist sighed, "All this way and now we can't open the door. Not only that, but we have a dragon after us outside."

"Perhaps I could be of help," a familiar voice echoed.

* * *

. . .

Ok, so they wussed out against the boss. But they can't get out of the desert without facing it, can they? I promise that next chapter will have our heroes face that wyrm. And they're going to have some help, from a number of sources, but I can't say anymore or it'll ruin the surprise. Please read and review. I haven't been getting enough feedback lately and it's making me feel unappreciated. :(

I still don't own Final Fantasy.


	17. Deep Inside

Finally, I've overcome my writer's block and finished this chapter! I can't believe I've had this sitting here for so long with only one thing that needed to be written. Of course, I needed the right inspiration for it, but I'm done. Anyway, enjoy…

Chapter 17

The trio spun around to once again be confronted by the ghostly illusion of Fenrir, this time floating several feet from the ground to look them in the eye.

"Perfect timing," Lani announced, "We need a little help with the door. Anything you can do?"

"Of course, kupo," the sorcerer replied, "Simply crook one finger and wave it in front of the door handle. Your inner magic will do the rest."

"Inner magic?" Mist asked, "Sounds kinda cheesy to me."

The Moogle looked at her and scowled, "There is nothing cheesy about a sorcerer's power, kupo. You have within you that very power and that is why you are here. I'll speak with you when you get inside." As he finished, the ancient Illusionary Moogle floated through the door as though it wasn't even there.

"Well," Mist sighed, "I suppose we give it a shot." She crooked the index finger of her right hand and waved it in front of the door handle. With barely a moment's hesitation, the door rumbled, shifting across the aged stone floor and finally revealing a small, cluttered room. Scrolls and books lay in dishevelled piles on the floor and desk that was the only visible piece of furniture in the entire room, and barely visible at that. Fenrir floated above the mess, shaking his head.

"Oh dear, kupo," he mused to himself, "This may be harder than I thought." As he continued mumbling to himself, he wandered around the room looking at the surface of the piles of faded parchment and dusty covers. "I think I'll need your help, kupo," he announced, "I cannot read any more than what lies on the top of these many mounds of my research. Please, help me find a small piece of parchment that has only four lines written on it. It was torn and rough around the edges."

Upon examining the nearest pile to her, Mist realized that time had left all of the paper rough and somewhat illegible, unless, of course, Fenrir had never had neat handwriting to begin with. She began to sift through the papers on the top of a pile near the door, Lani moved to one next to that and Zan started with the desk. They could all tell that this would be far from a quick search.

After reading and discarding several scrolls explaining the art of making runes, Mist discovered that a short stool resided at the bottom of the pile. She shifted a few extra scraps of paper, each with only a word or two on them, one Mist found to be an amusing example, "Remember, feed Peepi." That's what Mist assumed it said, but she was unsure of a few letters and Fenrir's cursives were near impossible to decipher anyway. After there was some space, Mist sat on the stool and began to read a small scroll titled "The Cactuar Alliance."

"Lucky," Lani told her, "All I found was a pot plant. A dead pot plant." Beside Lani was a ceramic pot lined with fine cracks. Lani bent down and lifted a handful of dust from the pot to show Mist the "plant" she was referring to.

"Anything useful?" Zan asked the girls.

Mist looked back at the scroll in her hand and placed it on the pile of discarded material. "Nothing," she replied.

"Me either," Lani added as she dropped the dust back into the pot, "And I'm done with this pile. I'll move on to that one that looks like it might be covering a sofa."

"Kupo!" came a cry from under a large pile in the corner, "I knew I had put it somewhere safe," continued Fenrir's muffled voice.

"The bottom of an enormous pile of scrap paper is safe?" Lani quipped.

"No," Fenrir replied, rising from within the mound of books and scrolls, "I placed it under a tile in this corner of the room. Come, move this to the side."

The trio stopped their searching and moved to the far corner of the room. After moving a large number of scrolls, a mountain of notes and books like "A Golem's Guide to Geomancy" and "Moogle Me This," the latter written by Fenrir himself, the friends found a tiled floor, something unseen throughout the room due to dust, paper and the occasional cactuar that had wandered into the room. Mist hadn't noticed the creatures until just now, not that they were in the way or anything. The three teens started trying to lift tiles from the floor, Fenrir apparently unable to recall the exact tile he had looked under. Eventually, after a little searching, Mist found a loose tile.

"I think I've got it," she announced. She carefully pulled the tile out of the floor and underneath there was a small, folded piece of paper. She gently picked it up and slowly unfolded it so as not to tear the ancient parchment.

"What does it say?" Lani asked, peering over Mist's shoulder from an inch behind her.

"I'll read it to you," Fenrir answered, as he floated up between Mist and the text, "Please recite after me."

As Fenrir read the words of the spell, the three friends echoed after him in unison.

"Spirits bound to realm of night,  
Join us now and aid our plight.  
Come again to light of day,  
To Alpha's grace do we pray."

The words lifted from their resting place upon the parchment and wafted in the air around the trio. As they hesitantly finished the incantation, the floating fragments of verse spun quickly and blurred into a swirl of colour around each of the casters.

"Uhh…" Lani began ineloquently, but her thoughts went unspoken as the swirls closed in and faded into the three teens.

For a moment, each of them stood there silently, pondering that which had just happened. A strange feeling, one of a mild emptiness, began to make itself known to each of them. Eventually, the silence grew long enough to prompt discussion.

"What just happened?" Mist asked, "What the heck did that spell do?"

"Isn't it obvious, kupo?" Fenrir replied, "You are now a new breed of mage that I had been trying to make possible in my years of research. You three," he paused for effect, "Are Summoners."

Lani tilted her head as she looked at him, "You say that like it should mean something. It doesn't," she quipped.

"Kupo. Such disrespect," Fenrir scowled as he floated around the trio, seemingly inspecting them, "I spent the better part of my life coming up with that incantation and you doubt my work?"

"I'm sure she didn't…" Mist began, attempting to cover for her friend's rudeness. She was, however, inevitably too late.

"How can I doubt it if I still haven't been told what in the world it is?" Lani replied.

"I'm glad you're not mine, kupo," Fenrir retorted quickly and cryptically.

"What do you mean by 'not yours' exactly?" Zan asked.

"That, kupo, is what I was about to explain," Fenrir answered.

"Hehe, sorry," Lani half-whispered. She always hated to admit she was wrong.

"I may as well begin," Fenrir began, "You three, using your new powers, will be able to summon strong spirits to aid you on your journey. We will not be able to stay with you as I am now, nor will we be able to make a permanent addition to your team, kupo. We will be temporary allies when you need us most and call for us."

"Call for you?" Mist asked.

"Yes, kupo," Fenrir replied, "When you summon us. Once a spirit joins you, summoning it should come naturally."

"How do you know that if we're 'a new breed of mage'?" Lani asked, a little bitterly.

Mist cringed, knowing that Lani had just completely ignored the lesson she should have learned only a minute ago at most. She was surprised at Fenrir's response.

"Yes, well, uhh," he muttered, "I…I don't, kupo. You're right, and I am merely speculating. However, that which I have assumed thus far appears true. Do you all feel a slight hollowness deep within you?"

The three friends looked at one another, puzzled. They hadn't said a word about the feeling and they could see in one another's eyes that each of them felt it. Fenrir could see it as well.

"Well then, kupo," he said confidently, "I suppose you're all capable of learning the rest on your own. So I leave you this final advice. Find us in our homes, kupo, but do not seek us out. We will find our way to you when the time is right. Seek only the remaining spells such as mine."

With his final words, Fenrir began to glow just a little bit. He shifted back with a few flaps of his tiny wings and suddenly, without warning, he zoomed forward and struck Mist right in the chest, vanishing as he did.

"What the heck was…" Mist trailed off as she sensed something new in that place deep inside herself. The feeling of emptiness had lessened. Something felt different, too. It wasn't related to the other feeling, but then again, there did seem to be a connection. It was very strange.

"Mist, hello…" Lani said in an irritated yet melodic way, waving a hand in front of Mist's face, "You with us?"

"Oh, sorry," Mist replied, blushing. She must have zoned out.

"Like I was saying," Lani continued, "What happened to you?"

"I was beginning to wonder that myself," Mist replied as she looked down at herself and nearly got lost in thought again.

"For lack of any other solution," Zan interrupted, "I'm willing to guess that Fenrir's ranting about ancient spirits means that he wishes us to summon the Nine Sorcerers as we go. He, obviously, is the first. So, Mist, do you suddenly know how to summon him as was implied?" he raised an eyebrow as he awaited a response.

"Nope," Mist replied, "But I do have another weird feeling now. I can't work out what it is."

"Maybe it's Fenrir, swimming around in your guts," Lani suggested with a sly grin on her face.

"Not now, Lani," Mist replied, knowing her friend's plan and not giving her the opportunity to allow it to come to pass, "We have bigger problems."

Mist's point was accented by another rumbling as the room gave a minute shudder. The wyrm was still out there and had not missed a beat since they had made it into the room. They had simply put it out of their mind. Mist was still uncertain as to what they could do to stop the creature, or even escape it. They had to stop it, though. They needed the cactuar needles to help Meranim and other healers like her. They could really use some help…

Help. What had Fenrir said? _'When you need us most'_? Mist was sure they needed him most right now. But she doubted that one spell, even if it were some super powerful summoning spell or whatever, would be enough to stop a wyrm as immense as the one waiting for them outside. A point once again accented by a thud against the walls. They still needed more help…

"Ok, I think I have a plan," Mist announced.

* * *

The desert erupted in a vicious cloud of sand as a copper-scaled serpent rose from beneath the dunes. Pounding on the hidden underground structure had done more harm than good. There had to be some way to complete its mission, some way to make its brother proud.

Its sensitive ears detected a sound from below. It was a number of repeated thuds. The children were coming back to the surface. The creature coiled itself into position in front of the tiny mound where they had disappeared earlier and awaited the chance to spring upon its prey.

* * *

. . .

Ok, this time it's really a showdown. What do I have in store for our heroes? You'll just have to wait and see.


	18. Turning The Wyrm

Here we go, another chapter done and ready. Please enjoy...

Chapter 18

When the door finally opened, the wyrm bit off more than he could chew.

Out of the dark stairwell stormed a small army of cactuars. Only caught momentarily off guard, the serpent drew back its head and prepared to lunge upon the hapless creatures when suddenly they all turned towards it and simultaneously leapt into the air.

It was as though a dark cloud was suddenly set upon the wyrm from the direction of the cactuars, but anyone close enough would see a storm of needles, thousands upon thousands of them flying at the serpent, most harmlessly deflecting off copper scales but some would strike the minute gap between or under instead, hitting exposed flesh. A few were even lucky enough to strike the creature's eyes.

As the wyrm lashed back in pain and panic, it swept up a wall of sand between it and the cactuars. Just what the trio had been hoping for.

With the wyrm distracted, Mist, Lani and Zan crept out of the doorway and around to a vantage point behind the mound of sand that had been concealing the entry.

"So," Lani half whispered, "Do you know how to summon him yet?"

"Uhh, not really," Mist replied.

"Well, so much for plan A," Zan retorted.

"Plan B, then?" Lani asked, receiving a nod from the other two.

Lani grabbed her bow and nocked and arrow from her quiver, the only things she'd brought with her for this fight. Their bags were still safely inside Fenrir's study below where they could collect them after the desert was safe for them to travel again.

The storm of sand blocking the wyrm had begun to subside and its slow moving form began to rise again. It slowly turned back towards its foes, its eyes kept to slits for protection. As it rose again, it loomed over the cactuars in preparation for another strike, however it began to mutter in that harsh draconic growl.

"Look out!" Mist shouted as the wind picked up around the cactuars and began to swirl into a tornado of sand and cacti. Random bursts of needles began to spit from the sandstorm, mostly pointing upwards towards the height of the wyrm, unfortunately not always in the right direction.

"Hey sand-for-brains!" Lani shouted, "Over here!"

With her challenge stated, she fully directed the creature's attention with an archer's trick she'd been taught. She held her arrow fully drawn and stuck out the index and middle finger of her left hand. She thought of a torch, burning softly.

"Fire," she half-whispered, and a flame ignited at the tips of her extended fingers. The flame caught the head of her arrow and she immediately loosed it at her target. The arrow hurtled through the air, flickering and wavering as it neared the swirling vortex, but Lani had compensated for that. The bolt connected cleanly with the wyrm's face, angering it and drawing its gaze to Lani.

Lani's heart was racing, although she had volunteered for this plan she was still not sure how likely it was to work. It was still worth a shot. As soon as the creature's eyes looked her way, Lani immediately cast a haste spell, swirling her arms as quickly yet carefully as she could. She had to be fast or she was a goner. The wyrm lifted higher on it's tail and poised itself to strike. It shot its head towards her, jaw opening to devour her whole.

"Haste!" Lani shouted.

The wyrm slowed to a crawl in mid air, mere meters from her. She swiftly jumped down from her perch, a jagged rock sticking out of the sand and one of their pointers to Fenrir's abode, and bolted back to her friends.

Lani could never appreciate the view her friends got of the plan. As the wyrm launched itself at Lani, she cast her spell and was gone, leaving the serpent to slam its mouth into the sharp point of the exposed rock. It recoiled in pain, lashing about in the sand again and bringing up another wall of sand. The new storm seemed to disrupt the old one, dropping the disoriented cactuars to the desert below. After bouncing back from their fall or the occasional head being plunged a short way under the sand, the cactuars cleared the area and hid behind several nearby dunes.

"Anything?" Zan asked Mist, hoping that now she would have thought of how to summon Fenrir.

Mist sighed and lowered her gaze, "No, not yet."

Lani returned to her friends as the glow surrounding her faded. "Well?" she asked. A shaking of heads from her companions answered her unspoken question. "This is beginning to give me the…" but she didn't get the chance to finish her sentence.

An enormous roar came up from beside them. The wyrm had discovered their hiding place and was preparing to strike down on them, scarred eyes, bleeding jaw and all.

Mist stood up but stumbled down the hill, tripping in a shallow ditch in the sand. She fell on her back, her sword sliding downhill from its scabbard and out of reach, not that it would do her much good anyway. Her friends were still standing at the top of the dune facing the wyrm, unaware of her fall. They looked helpless, and indeed quite probably were against the creature that loomed so high above them. Everything seemed to be moving slowly, even the beating of her own heart.

She thought desperately about what she could do, but thinking hadn't given her the answer yet. So, she felt for the answer, but all she found was the feeling within her, the feeling of emptiness. No, there was something there now, wasn't there? She could feel the warm feeling that there was someone with her. Something that was in that deep void. Something Mist couldn't quite describe washed over her. A feeling perhaps, a hunch, a thought? Whatever it was, it told her to embrace that warmth. Seeing the serpent rise, preparing to strike upon her friends, Mist took a chance.

Suddenly, the warm feeling filled that void she could feel within herself. Unbeknown to her, her eyes began to glow a frosted shade of blue, and her hair, short though it was, began to waver in an unfelt wind. A determined look had replaced the one of fear as she stood, sand fleeing from her feet as she did.

The wyrm had halted its attack upon the sight of her unusual activity. Noting this, Zan and Lani turned to see what had drawn their foe's attention.

Lani grinned with an almost evil look in her eyes, "This ought to be good."

The glow in Mist's eyes began to form around her fingers, slowly creeping down to her hands like fire on a scrap of paper. She held her arms apart and lifted them above her head. As she brought them down in an arc to either side of her, the glow that had surrounded her hands drew itself into a line in the air following her hands. When Mist finally brought her hands together in a full circle, she leapt back a few paces.

"Guardian of desert dry," Mist began to shout in verse, "Bring forth the quenching torrent. Fenrir!"

From the edge of the glowing circle before her, water began to fill in towards the centre. Upon its completion, from within the wall of water arose the ghostly form of Fenrir, as he had appeared before.

"Fenrir, I did it!" Mist shouted, the glow fading from her eyes and her hands. The Moogle, however, gave no sign that he had heard her.

As he rose into the air, the wyrm took its chance to strike at the form of the Moogle, its teeth piercing nothing but air. As it loomed back and re-examined the situation, Fenrir lifted his tiny Moogle arms and shouted, "Tidal Force!"

As the Moogle faded into the desert sky, the ground around the wyrm began to shake, and Lani and Zan decided that it wasn't such a good idea to stand so close. They had barely taken ten steps before a huge wall of water leapt up behind them, completely engulfing the wyrm. It let out another screeching roar, thrashing within its aquatic prison.

A fine spray began to fall upon the desert from the water that had leapt beyond the peak of the spell. The cactuars, in their hiding places behind the dunes, began to dance around in the makeshift rain.

As the spell subsided only moments later, the wyrm still loomed wavering above the desert. It opened its jaw again and roared loudly. It growled again in its obscure quasi-language, staring at Mist. A dark chill ran down her spine as though it had given her some ominous warning she could never understand.

The wyrm lifted up once more as though to strike, then slumped into a coil and collapsed to the dampened sand below. It slowly began to waft away in the largest cloud of dark smoke Mist had ever seen. After a few moments the desert was finally purged of the presence of the wyrm. The cactuars began to bound with joy all over the sand.

"They look happy," Zan commented as he and Lani approached Mist, "And it looks like you figured out what to do," he added.

"I just needed the right motivation," she replied, blushing a little. Lani gave her a knowing sideward glance to which Mist replied with a harsh glare. Zan looked from one girl to the other, shook his head and turned back towards the desert.

"Hmm," he began, "I think we may not have to try hard to solve the cactuar needle problem," he mused as he stared towards the dampened sand where the wyrm had fallen. Mist and Lani walked up the dune to stand either side of him. There they could see the cactuars picking up piles of the needles they had projected at the wyrm. Some had already filled up and they stood to the side, waiting for their companions.

The three friends moved down the dune to the scene below and began to examine the other thing left in the sand. A scarred scale, coppery and about the size of Mist's hand, lay next to a glass jewel that appeared to be shaped like the wyrm's eye, dark with a red iris and everything. Thankfully, it too was no bigger than Mist's hand, like the creature's real eyes had been. Mist picked up the jewel and Lani picked up the scale.

"Ahh, the spoils of victory," Lani quipped.

"You expected better?" Zan replied.

"Well, I guess not," she answered, "But I suppose the needles will be worth it."

"Come on," Mist told her friends, "Let's go and get our packs and head back to the boat. It's getting late and we don't want Captain Cid to leave without us."

* * *

The sun was beginning to set over the cliffs at the edge of Loxdue Island. Cid lay on the roof of his cabin and continued to wait for his young passengers who had ventured out into the desert to find the cactuars and their needles. It was probably wrong to send children to do such a dangerous task.

"I shoulda gone with 'em", he told himself aloud, beginning to wonder if he would be waiting all night for the children or whether he'd be heading home alone that evening.

A shadow crossed his face, prompting him to sit up and grasp the spear the lay beside him. He'd expected another wolf to be coming down to the docks again, as a few had already done that day, but he was quite astounded at what he saw.

* * *

"Thank you all," Mist said as the cactuars filed past her down the hill towards Cid and the Highwind. Each cactuar carried a large pile of needles above its head, collected from after the fight. The creatures had been so happy after the teens helped them to defeat the Earth Wyrm that they agreed to provide them with as many needles as they wanted.

As the cactuars unloaded their needles onto the deck of the Highwind, Cid got down from his vantage point atop the cabin and approached the trio as they reached the bottom of the hill.

"How in the world did ya git these things ta help ya?" he asked in his coarse abomination of the Human language.

"We helped them first," Mist replied simply.

The teens went into their agreed explanation of what had happened, minus the bit about Fenrir, of course.

* * *

An orange glow lit the sky and shimmered on the sea as the Highwind set sail from the docks on Loxdue. The cactuars were long since gone, racing back across the desert to their new home in Fenrir's lab. A dark figure stood on the cliff top and glared out to sea. How close those children had come to death and yet they lived. His plan had failed, and though Omega had carried it out, he would be the one held to blame. Something had to be done about the children and soon. Omega was a wise and ancient master, but he would not permit failure of his plans when he was still in such a vulnerable state.

The figure walked back west along the cliffs to the ship waiting around the coast in a small inlet. He would have to find a way to stop those children to gain favour with Omega again, and it would have to be soon.

* * *

Sunlight cut through the windows of the inn, awakening Mist from a night of dreamless sleep. She was thankful for the rest, and was irked by the fact that she had to get up. Without Guiness, the trio would have to leave early to make good time on their way back to Andandrea.

The events of the previous day had left her weary and she had fallen asleep the moment her head hit the pillow. The innkeeper had been so happy that the trio had returned the cactuar needles to the people of the city, and was even more impressed by the arrangement that had been set up with the cactuars themselves. She found it hard to believe that mere children could have accomplished something like that. She had given them each a free dinner for their efforts, which was greeted with delight from the teens, so hungry that they left their plates clean in mere minutes. A day's adventuring can take a lot out of you.

The rest of the town had been extremely grateful as well, offering the teens an enormous sum of money for saving the medicine industry of Duntarine. Although they appreciated the offer of several hundred thousand gil, and were willing to accept what they could carry, there was no way for them to accept such an immense payment. Also, Cid had helped them for a very reasonable fee, so they told the townspeople to give him the remainder of the reward as payment for his aid. Cid was ecstatic to say the least, and vowed to repay the teens some day.

With her eyes still closed, Mist didn't see the projectile coming until it struck her.

"Lani," Mist mumbled from under the pillow now resting on her face, "Remove it now, please."

"Move it yourself," Lani replied, already dressed and getting her things together, "You need to get up anyway."

With a resigned sigh, Mist agreed and rolled out of her warm and comfy bed, dropping Lani's pillow on the floor next to her. Mist had never been much of a morning person. She got dressed into her spare clothes, the ones from yesterday being too dirty, helped Lani gather their things, their new, bulging gil pouches and their bottles of water, refilled the night before.

They met Zan in the hall just as he was leaving his room. He had his bag packed and a handful of gil, which he passed to them in exchange for their room key.

"You two order breakfast and I'll hand in our keys," he said, stifling a yawn. From the fact that they were ready before him, Mist assumed that he'd slept in a little. It wasn't entirely unlike him, but he gave no other sign of being rushed. He was always well presented.

As Zan stopped at the front desk, Mist and Lani wandered into the dining room where they were greeted with a kind "Good morning," here and a pleasant smile there. The girls felt quite pleased with themselves as they sat at an empty table and ordered bacon and eggs, "The breakfast of Champions" the waitress noted.

Zan caught up to them a moment later, sitting opposite the girls and looking around the room.

"My, we seem to be quite well liked around here, don't we?" he stated somewhat rhetorically.

"Yeah," Lani replied, "But I don't know if I could get used to this."

"Of course not," Mist replied, "With people watching you all the time, how would you be sneaky and mischievous?"

The three laughed and enjoyed their breakfast, the smells of delicious foods wafting in from the kitchen kept them happy until their meal arrived. Between bites they discussed their plans for the morning, heading out on the road towards Erebi and taking the trade road from there down the coastline to the west and finally south towards Andandrea. There they would ask the High Priestess for permission to search the Grand Temple for Eve's spell fragment, something they weren't looking forward to.

* * *

. . .

Wow, I finally wrote another long chapter. Yay!


	19. Random Encounter

Ok, I know it's been a while, but I've got a new chapter for you. Please don't be mad. I had exams and stuff a little while ago and forgot all about how long it'd been since my last update. Anyway, no more excuses. Here's...

Chapter 19

After a great meal, the trio left the inn with a warm farewell from the staff and many of the patrons. The people of Duntarine were so kind. It was hard to imagine as many people back in Andandrea being so welcoming and grateful as these people, Andandrea being so busy and having so many adventurers all the time. The owner of the local chocobo ranch had offered the rental of free mounts from his ranch if they were to deliver them to one of his companions in either Sandros or Andandrea. The trio declined though, not knowing more than the basics of chocobo riding that they'd learned from Guiness. It was a shame that they weren't able to accept his offer. The ride could be made in two days instead of the four or five that they were expecting.

As they walked through the city towards the gate in the southeast, the crowds seemed to thicken. The morning markets were being set up along the side of streets and fishermen in long trousers and suspenders of mostly plain colours were beginning to head off on their own daily journey in search of fish.

As they were making their way along a main road, Mist began to get a strange feeling. It was as though something was out of place. She looked around, seeing a number of Moogle craftsmen heading towards the docks, fishermen, mostly Human and Bangaa, chatting with stall owners and discussing profit margins, a Viera stepping into a back alley out of the way of a small cart full of nets and rope that was heading towards the docks. Something was odd.

"Come on," she told her friends, leading the way through the crowd. They dodged past men carrying large planks of wood and tools, jumping over a lazy dog outside a shop and eventually reaching the back alley on the side of the road.

"Where are we going?" Lani asked, catching up quickly to her racing friend.

"You'll see," Mist replied.

As they made their way down the alley, they heard a scuffle of feet and a cough, as though someone had been hit in the gut.

"W-w-what did I do?" came a childlike voice from around a corner.

"Give it back, you little pickpocket!" replied an angry female voice, a voice that Mist was beginning to remember.

As the trio rounded the corner, they found a young Moogle being held by the throat against a wall by the Viera that Mist had seen duck down the alley earlier. The same Viera that they had captured on the plains when they were attacked.

"You!" she shouted at them as she drew a belt knife from her waist. As she dropped the Moogle and began to advance on the teens at the other end of the alley, she flipped the knife around and caught it backhanded. "I'll deal with you three first."

Zan, who had fallen behind the girls when the running started, was still standing just behind them. As the Viera bandit advanced on them down the narrow, damp alley, he began to slide his rapier from its place at his side. His arm nudged Lani and Mist's arms as he extended his sword further from its scabbard. Upon feeling the gentle touch, it was as though the girls knew his plan. The Viera was only a meter or so from them when she lunged forwards, knife held high ready to stab.

At that moment, the girls dashed to the side, leaving room for Zan to swiftly and deftly deflect her knife. Zan used a rapier because as a child, his parents had encouraged him to learn fencing. He was an excellent fencer, although not fond of the sport enough to pursue it professionally as his parents had hoped. They were still proud of his skill, and he was as well. His careful strokes deflected her attacks each time. After a few stabs pushing Zan back several steps, she gave up on him and spun around to go after the girls.

Unfortunately for her, the girls had had ample time to draw their weapons and were already pointing them at her. With a heavy sigh, she dropped her knife and slumped her shoulders. "I give up," she muttered half to them, half to herself, "When I get out I'm gonna go take that job at the tavern."

After procuring some rope from a generous fisherman, the trio took the Viera down the street to a guardhouse. The guard captain was quite impressed by the trio. Not because they'd managed to capture a bandit, as adventurers apparently did it quite often, but because they'd captured one he was quite sure was still in jail. After embarrassedly returning the Viera bandit to her cell, the captain handed the trio another small silver token.

"I'm sure you know what this is for," he told them, "Thank you once again."

As they left the guardhouse, the friends turned a corner and nearly ran right into the Moogle from the alley.

"Oh, hello," Mist announced, "Are you ok?"

"I certainly am, thanks to you three," he replied, "The name's Rigby, and I owe you guys for saving my hide."

Mist took this moment to really look at Rigby, whose presence had been somewhat overlooked upon the attack by their Viera assailant. He was of average size for a Moogle, or perhaps a little smaller, about one and a half feet tall or so. His yellow eyes matched his yellow pompom and red-orange wings. All of that was quite a contrast to his dirty grey fur. He wore a rough and worn set of Moogle sized blue pants and green coat covering a dirty grey shirt. All in all, Rigby was a mess.

"It was nothing," Zan assured him, "You don't owe us anything. What did you steal from her, anyway?"

"Uhh," Rigby looked rather uncomfortable at the accusation, looking around himself and particularly back towards the guardhouse, "Well, this…" Rigby placed a hand in his pocket and pulled out a handful of gil. "She stole it from someone else first. I saw it," he pleaded.

"Well why don't you go do the honourable thing and return it?" Lani asked.

"I would," Rigby lied, quite clear by his tone of voice, "But it was a guard, and he'd think I stole it. I'm, uhh, not too well liked around here. I know! I'll travel with you to pay off my debt. You're leaving, right? Well I can go with you and help you out. You never know when a thief can come in handy. So, hows about it?"

Mist began to feel sorry for the Moogle, which was quite possibly his plan, but he looked honest enough. He took off his scruffy, baggy yellow cap and held it to his chest. It was more brown than yellow and Mist really didn't want to know why.

"Well…" she began, "I…guess you can tag along for a little while."

With a sceptical glare from Lani, a resigned shrug from Zan and a gleeful hug from Rigby, Mist began to ask herself why she could never say no when she wanted to.

* * *

The glow of the sun had reached the top of the buildings in Duntarine before the group had set forth to the gates of the city and off on their adventure. The trio had introduced themselves to Rigby, who in turn had, with a little prompting from Lani, given a courteous response. Lani could always keep kids in line, and Rigby being only sixteen made him her new favourite member of the group. With his willingness to repay the friends for helping him, Lani was only more inclined to abuse his services. Already she had him carrying her bag, minus her gil pouch, which she had slipped to Mist.

As the trio left the city, the daily traffic could be seen in its early stages. Most of it was comprised of carts bearing fish from the previous day, packed in crates and coated in salt to help them last the journey. The carts themselves seemed packed like their cargo, guards walking by them on all sides, more to protect the chocobos than the fish or even the merchant and his gil.

A few other travellers left the city, either by foot or the lucky few on chocobo. Unusually, a pair of armoured men, knights perhaps, appeared to have just arrived. They stood by the gate talking with a guard, gesturing out into the plains. Mist thought they might be reporting bandits or something like that, though it was unusual that they had arrived so early in the day. Perhaps they'd come from a nearby town.

After passing through the gates and beginning on their way towards home, Mist, Lani and Zan began to chat about what they thought Cid would do with the money he'd received. Lani disagreed with Mist, believing that he'd buy a new ship, which in her opinion would be easier than fixing the Highwind as Mist suggested. Zan doubted that the captain would get rid of his old ship, and instead thought that he'd waste it at the tavern or possibly even retire to travel the world on the Highwind. The whole time, Rigby contented himself to follow and listen with a puzzled look on his face as he tried to understand their conversation.

They hadn't gone far before the sound of a cart could be heard behind them. The group moved to the side of the road to make room for the cart to pass, but as they did the cart sounded as though it were slowing down. When Mist turned back to see what was going on she was astounded to see who was there.

"Well now, where are you lot off to?" asked Guiness atop Storm, "If you're heading my way you can take a lift with my uncle and I," he gestured to an older Bangaa riding Thunder. His uncle had the same rusty red skin tone as Guiness, and in fact a majority of Bangaa that Mist had ever seen, yet his face bore a more worn appearance. His outfit seemed rather odd on a Bangaa, baggy blue pants and a blue and yellow vest. He was a Blitzball coach, as Mist recalled from their journey to the city.

"Lookss like you've picked up a new friend," Guiness noted, "But since he's jusst a little one, I'm sure we've got room for him. All of you, hop in the back."

The friends looked to one another, smiling in the knowledge that their feet were saved the long trek home.

"Thank you, Guiness," Lani said in a pathetic, childish voice, her hands clenched at her waist behind her back and her head tilted down.

She really did look like a child. Mist thought to herself about the times that childish behaviour had miraculously saved Lani from a number of her mischievous misadventures. It astounded her that anyone would still buy that lame smirk. Her mother certainly never had.

"Mind the uniformss," Guiness called back to them as they got up into the cart and found that the uniforms covered most of the floor space.

Sighing, Mist began picking up and folding uniforms to put them in a corner and out of the way. Zan started helping her when there was enough room for him. Lani got in and sat down when there was enough room for her. Rigby waited until the others were done, and finally they were all able to take a seat.

The cart lurched off as Guiness and his uncle directed Thunder and Storm to start again.

"I hope you don't mind if we make a detour to Sandros," Guiness called back, "I have a small delivery to make and then we can be on our way to Andandrea."

"That's not a problem," Mist replied, "It's a small price to pay for a ride."

As the journey proceeded through the morning and into the middle of the day, Mist had taken to conversing with Rigby about their first encounter with the bandit that had attacked him. Zan seemed content to sit back and enjoy the scenery and Lani lay sideways in what looked like a very awkward pose, flipping the silver token they'd received over and over.

Guiness' uncle, Kerta, had explained that the token was a long-standing tradition amongst the guards. It had spawned from a time when the guards of Duntarine had worn silver scale mail and would reward warriors who would aid the guards as mercenaries with a scale from their armour. Eventually, the guards' armour changed and silver became a rarer substance, too valuable to make armour from, and so the guards had commissioned a set of silver tokens bearing their mark to replace the scales. The gesture was meant to be a very honourable thing to have bestowed upon an individual once, let alone twice. The trio had been quite lucky to be considered so worthy.

Lani, however, had simply been entertained by the fact that the token was pure silver. She had remarked that their stay at the inn was worth less than that much of the precious metal, but no one paid her complaints much heed.

* * *

"…But I'm telling you, we were robbed," Biggs complained.

"It's no use," Wedge told his companion, "We'll just have to buy some new Chocobos here."

"But we should be compensated," Biggs continued, "We were robbed within the range of the city. Isn't it the guard's duty to keep that area safe?"

The guard to whom they had been complaining spoke briefly to one of his companions. "We cannot be held responsible for your lapse in security," he began, "Were that the case, we'd have replaced several dozen birds this month alone. It's simply not feasible for Duntarine to help every victim of bandits by doing anything more than our current attempts to catch the ones responsible. As a matter of fact, three bandits were caught just two days ago."

"Well, that's not very helpful to us," Biggs replied.

"Look, Biggs," Wedge said as he grabbed his partner by the arm and began to drag him into the city, "We've been cleared, and this guard isn't going to give us a handout. Let's just see if we can find out anything about those people who came from Sandros and then we'll buy new Chocobos to get back home."

"Fine," Biggs agreed, taking his arm back, "Let's get on with it then."

* * *

. . .

Ok, not much going on there, but look what happened! Two new characters have joined our heroes. And Guiness is back! Hmm, a detour back to Sandros. What could that hold for our adventurers? Find out soon…Well, hopefully soon.


	20. A Sad Tail

Wow, it's been a long time. Sorry it's been so long since I posted a new chapter, but I have my reasons. Anyway, on with the show. Here's…

Chapter 20

It was getting late as the cart rolled into Erebi. The sun was setting beyond the open plains to the west and an orange glow lit the horizon as a multitude of stars lit the dark blue hue above the adventurers who were preparing to take their rest in the small town.

"Are we there yet?" Lani asked, for the forty-somethingth time. Mist had lost count a long way back.

"Please stop that," Rigby pleaded, having turned upside down and resting in what must have been a very uncomfortable way in the corner of the cart. As a matter of fact, Mist was quite uncomfortable herself, having been in the cart most of the day bar their lunch break.

They hadn't encountered any creatures on their trek, and no bandits either. They may not have been willing to attack a group as big as six people, or perhaps the events of two days past had made their way to other bandits. Mist didn't believe that their reputation, if one existed, would protect them.

The town seemed so quiet. People were closing their stalls, a few locals were out taking a walk or chatting but a lot of the streets they passed were already empty. The smell of food wafted from the windows of houses where dinner was being prepared. It was a very tempting sensation, and Mist was looking forward to Guiness' generous offer to put them all up for the night and even provide dinner. Mist had been adamant at first that they would be fine to stay at the inn again, but Guiness insisted.

Something caught Mist's eye down one street, and she began to stand up. The cart shuddered as it ran over a large stone on the worn dirt road, and Mist tripped on a misplaced Blitzball uniform. She landed, in an inelegant plop, on Zan's lap.

"Uhh, sorry…" Mist muttered as she tried unsuccessfully to right herself, slipping with every new bump in the road. Lani was barely containing her giggles, and not doing that consistently.

"Would you like a hand?" Zan offered with a stifled laugh. He placed a hand on Mist's back and held her hand as she stood. Mist turned her head to the side slightly to avoid the possibility of Zan seeing the rosy glow growing in her cheeks. Once upright, Mist hesitantly held onto Zan's hand as she used it to stabilize herself on her way to finally reach the front of the cart.

"Guiness," she called forward.

"Something amiss?" the Bangaa asked, turning his head slightly back to show his interest, but keeping his eyes on the road ahead.

"There's something I want to do," Mist replied, "I'll meet you and the others back at your house when I'm done, if that's ok."

"Of course," her cheery companion replied, "Don't be too late though, or you'll miss dinner."

"Where are you going?" Lani spat out as Mist turned around.

"There's just something I wanted to check out back there. Don't worry. I'll be just fine. I'll see you guys really soon, ok."

Guiness stopped the cart for Mist as she hopped over the side. She had been sitting uncomfortably all day long so she was quite relieved to be able to stretch her legs.

"Don't you want us to come with you?" Zan asked as he half stood, preparing to follow Mist out of the cart.

"Oh, you don't have to," Mist replied, "It's nothing big, and I'm sure you guys are hungry."

"You can say that again," Lani cut in. All that was missing was a loud groan from her stomach.

Mist held her hand over her mouth to cover a giggle. "I'll be fine, guys. Really."

"Alright," Zan replied, a little reluctantly, "We'll meet you back at Guiness' house for dinner. Don't be too long."

The cart began rolling down the road once more, as Mist turned back towards her destination. She then realized that it was now quite a distance away. All that commotion in the cart had prevented her from stopping Guiness closer, and now she'd have to walk all the way back. At least it was a pleasant evening.

A gentle breeze carried a leaf or two along the hard-packed dirt road, and the warm glow of sunset rose from the horizon ahead of her. She started to casually walk along the main road through town, passing a handful of shops that were still open. The owners were often talking in depth with a customer. In a small town like Erebi it was quite possibly a good friend of theirs, and they were probably unaware of the time.

Eventually, Mist found herself back at the right street. Sitting along the side of the road outside the inn were half a dozen familiar young faces, all staring at the ground in front of them.

"What's the matter?" Mist asked them in her kindest tone.

The children looked up, a little surprised to see someone. A young elfin girl eventually broke an uncomfortable silence.

"Missy died," she said flatly. The children all returned to staring at the ground, and a human boy began to sob. Mist was quite worried before she caught sight of a red collar in one child's hand.

"Missy was your cat, wasn't she?" Mist asked. The children all nodded in unison, the sobbing boy began crying a little harder.

"I'm so sorry," Mist added, not knowing what else to say, "How did it happen?" She realized immediately after she said it that it was a stupid thing to ask. That point was made even clearer when a second child began crying.

_I'm no good at this,_ Mist thought to herself. She stood there thinking, her hands fumbling aimlessly in her pockets, until…

She discretely pulled the silver token out of her pocket. Lani had been flipping it carelessly in the cart for quite a while before she had inevitably dropped it. It had rolled towards Mist, and she'd pocketed the token with a slight smugness, having predicted that Lani would eventually fail to catch the small piece of silver.

Mist turned the token over in her palm a few times, examining the helmet emblem on it as she did. "I'll be back in a minute," she announced.

* * *

As the cart rolled into the familiar back alley, Zan, Lani, and Rigby, jumped down from the back and knocked on the house's back door. Guiness' brother Krayl greeted the friends and invited them in. After a few minutes of talking with Krayl, Guiness and Kerta joined the group.

"Time for dinner, I think," Guiness announced, walking towards a door at the back of the house, "Make yourselves comfortable while you wait."

Zan looked around the room he'd only had a brief glimpse of when passing through days before. There were several comfortable looking armchairs along one wall, large with soft blue fabric, and a long wooden table on the other side of the room. Around the table were several ladder-back chairs, and a vase of flowers sat in the table's centre, though they had probably been there a while from the look of them. A few other small pieces of furniture filled out the room. A short bookcase in one corner near the door they'd come through was littered with little odds and ends. A painting of a beach scene warmed the wall with the comfy chairs, the sand in the painting complementing the sandstone walls.

Zan examined the bookcase while Krayl and Lani took places at the table. It seemed that Lani was attempting to teach Krayl how to play Fortuna, the new dice game they'd learned. In all likelihood, Lani would only disappoint herself by finding yet another novice who could beat her. Rigby was spread out on the cushion of one of the comfy chairs, apparently enjoying the greater space now available after their trip.

"So," Kerta began, apparently addressing all three guests, "I take it you're coming to Costa Porti to see the tournament? It's going to be grand, and we're finally going to win this year. I can feel it."

"Well," Lani began, "That wasn't our original plan, but since we'll be around at the time…" she trailed off, leaving her intentions plainly obvious, at least to Zan. When Lani wanted to do something there were only three things that could stop her. Death, her mother (and then only sometimes), or something more interesting. Her interests were fickle enough that the latter was quite a frequent occurrence.

"What exactly are we doing in Costa Porti, then?" Rigby asked Lani, with a near child-like innocence.

Zan noted Lani's reaction, specifically rolling her eyes, to Rigby's question. It was obvious to him that it had been a reaction mostly to the use of the word 'we'. Zan, too, was not entirely comfortable with the use of the word, as he was unsure how much they could trust their new travelling companion. He seemed fairly harmless, but being a thief he was likely to be skilled at deception.

"Well, I guess you could say we'll be sightseeing," Lani replied, quite accurately describing their intentions to those who wouldn't truly comprehend exactly what they were planning.

Zan thought to himself, though, that the way she'd phrased it left a lot to be desired. He was relieved that no one questioned the meaning behind Lani's words before Krayl managed to beat Lani in their first game.

"I swear," Lani grumbled, "It's always beginners luck."

* * *

Mist was getting used to early mornings. Everyone was up by sunrise and were packing their belongings again, preparing for the day's journey. Even Krayl was helping by making breakfast, although breakfast was a come-and-go affair. People stopped to eat a few bites before returning to the job of packing, and another person would stop for something to eat.

Eventually, the preparations were made, the cart was packed and the chocobos were harnessed. Guiness and Kerta bid Krayl farewell before mounting their chocobos, and Mist and the others said their goodbyes to the young Bangaa as well before reluctantly boarding the cart. At least the journey wasn't too far this time.

The warm glow of sunrise cresting the horizon washed over the cart as Guiness guided it onto the main street. Lani turned to Mist, glad to look away from the bright reminder of how early she'd been forced to get up.

"We're never going to have a chance to sleep in again, are we?" she asked her friend.

Mist only gave a soft laugh to her friend's sarcastic joke. "No," she replied, half distracted, "Probably not. At least not for a while."

"So," Lani began, as though starting the conversation anew, "Where did you go last night, Mist?"

"Oh," Mist sighed, smiling back over her shoulder, "Just for a walk. No place special."

As the cart rolled east out of town towards the rising sun and the town of Sandros, a group of excited youths ran through the streets, hot on the heels of a sprinting tabby cat.

* * *

_Dedicated to my cat, Lucky_

_(1993 - 2006)

* * *

_

. . .

Finally, a new chapter is done! I'm sorry it's been so long, but I've been kind of distracted for a while now with one thing or another. My life has been both quiet and hectic at the same time. It's a really long story, and telling one long story seems to be almost beyond my abilities at the moment, so I'll try just sticking to this one.

Anyway, I know there isn't much in this chapter, but now that I'm back in a bit of a writing mood and I'm starting a new chapter, I can make something more interesting, and possibly more consistent.


	21. Under Siege

I've been feeling bad about not writing as much lately as I used to. As such, to try and make up for it, I've written an unusually long chapter with a second to follow on soon. I hope you all enjoy…

Chapter 21

The sun was glowing brightly overhead as midday was approaching, and a cool breeze was blowing in from the west as a busy cart journeyed along the road towards Sandros.

Lani was lying on the edge of the cart, one leg casually holding her from falling as she calmly strung and unstrung her bow. Zan was rigidly seated on a small crate in the front of the cart, conversing with Guiness and Kerta from time to time, and otherwise watching the horizon ahead of them. Mist, however, was beginning to enjoy their new companion's company. The two of them had made small piles of uniforms on the floor of the cart and were lying on their backs looking for images in the clouds.

"It's definitely a Moogle, kupo," Rigby asserted, "See. That's the pompom."

"That's the ninth time you've said a cloud looks like a Moogle," Mist chuckled, "Do they all look like Moogles?"

"Only the little ones," Lani quipped, her timing as keen as always, even when she didn't seem to be taking notice of the conversation.

"All I'm telling you," Rigby huffed defensively, "Is that I see Moogles in those clouds. Maybe you see something else, but I have the knack to find really kupo things wherever I look."

"That why you became a thief?" Lani quipped again, on a roll of foot-in-mouth joking insults, another honed ability of hers.

Before Rigby could defend himself, Zan cut in. "Pardon me a moment," he began, "But I think you may all want to see this."

"By Alpha," Kerta gasped.

In the near distance, Sandros was beginning to be revealed from behind a veil of trees, and the sight of it was a bracing shock. All over the town, creatures were crawling across roofs, engaging in scrimmages with sword-wielding warriors or facing off against a flurry of spells from groups of sorcerers. The entire town seemed engulfed in battle.

"Step on it!" Lani shouted, her bow restrung and an arrow ready in hand. She had taken a more sensible and stable position inside the cart but she seemed prepared enough to leap out and join the fray the moment they arrived.

Mist watched edgily as an Ochu let loose a flash of whips with its vines on a group of Nu Mou, "I just hope everyone's OK…"

* * *

As the cart entered the town, Lani fired her third arrow, finally at a close enough range to strike her target clearly. The Viper Hound, caught mid-lunge, twitched as the arrow pierced its throat and left it slumped on the ground for a brief moment before fading to smoke. The would-be victim, an Elvin swordsman, nodded his thanks before striding into town to rejoin the fight.

"Finally," Lani sighed, "Shooting from a moving vehicle is harder than it looks."

Zan and Mist leapt out of the cart and drew their swords, sizing up the battle as they did.

"Uhh," came a hesitant mutter from the cart, "I-I've never been in a big fight like this," Rigby stammered, "What do we do?"

Lani picked Rigby up under his arms and, with a great deal of flailing from Rigby, dropped him over the side next to Zan. "First, you get out of the cart, you draw your little daggers, and you use them on the bad creatures hurting the townspeople," she said in a matter of fact way that she still managed to make sound insulting.

"Well what about you?" Rigby scoffed as he dragged himself to his feet, "Aren't you getting out of the cart?"

"I'm an archer," she replied, "I stay away from the fighting and shoot things. It's what I do."

Guiness jumped down off of Lightning and took his broadsword from the saddle. Drawing it, he turned to Kerta, "Take the birdss, and get out of the fray. Wouldn't want them getting hurt."

Kerta nodded and began turning the cart around. "Lookss like you'll be getting closser than you'd like," he chortled as Lani sighed and leapt out of her little sniper's nest.

"Great," she moaned, looking around at her exposed surroundings, "I am not suited to this kind of position."

"In case you'd forgotten," Zan interrupted, "These people could use some assistance."

The sounds of battle raged on from all around them, mostly unseen on other roads, but small skirmishes could be seen further down the town's main street.

"We need to find Meranim and find out what's going on," Mist asserted, "I mean, shouldn't the barrier be keeping these things out?"

"Oh yeah," Lani mused, "What could have happened?"

"Let's find out," Zan replied, turning towards the alley by the side of the road that would take them in the direction of Meranim's house.

The group made their way down the alley, but it wasn't far before they were confronted by a small pack of venomous foes. Three Bite Bugs swooped down from a perch on a nearby roof and lunged towards Zan and Guiness, who were leading the way. Lani let fly a ready arrow and pierced the front bug right through the abdomen, causing the other two behind it to drift slightly to the side, and to slow down, in response. Guiness and Zan took the chance to swing at the bugs but only Guiness' sword had the reach to strike. The second bug, cleft almost fully in half, drifted to smoke on the wind before ever reaching the ground. As though sensing it stood no chance, the third bug opted to flee before the others could strike it.

"Keep moving!" Guiness called back as he started jogging down the alley again.

As the others followed, it seemed that their luck was not with them. At the end of the short alley, a passing pack of Viper Hounds stopped and turned to the approaching party.

"This could take a while," Lani whinged as she fired an arrow through the group, expertly missing everyone and stabbing into a wolf's shoulder.

Skirmish after skirmish continued as they ventured across the town towards Meranim's little stone house. Their luck changed, however, as they got closer.

Guiness swiped his sword in an arc before him, cleaving the end off two of the three tentacle vines of the Ochu attacking him. The vines fluttered violently above the moving plant and began flicking the creature's mildly acidic sap. Dodging past the injured vines, Mist stabbed the Ochu's body from the side and quickly backed away before a small spray of sap gushed from its wound.

"Eww," she grimaced, "I hate things that squish before they vanish."

The Ochu, and its sap, faded away into smoke as it flopped to the ground. Mist flinched as the smoke from her sword blew past her face. "Gah," she shrieked, "Well this just keeps getting better."

"I couldn't agree more," Meranim interjected.

Mist spun around to see Lani already hugging their Nu Mou companion, who appeared a little worse for wear. Her white mage robes were dusty and torn in a spot or two, and she looked more tired than Mist remembered from their last encounter. She knew that Meranim wasn't a young Nu Mou, but she must have been running and fighting quite a bit for her to look like this.

"What's going on, Meranim?" Mist asked her as she bent down to give her a hug, "Did something happen to the barrier?"

"That it did," the kindly mage replied, "They'd been getting closer than normal for days now and one or two little ones had been caught in the street just yesterday, but this morning they just all rushed right in. No one's been able to figure out why, and I haven't been able to gather enough mages together that know how to help me create a new barrier."

Guiness grunted as he swung his sword over his head in an attempt to swat a lonely bite bug, "So what'ss the plan then?"

Lani took aim and ran the bug through when it hovered a moment above Guiness, "Is there anyone in town we can help you find to cast the spell?" she asked as she retrieved the arrow from mid air, the bug having faded away already.

"Unfortunately no," Meranim replied in a saddened tone, "I'm afraid that two of the council members that I would have needed help from were killed a few hours ago when a Malboro attacked the tower gates. It's been there as if guarding the place ever since, and the only way I could teach anyone else to help me is if we were to get to the top of the tower."

Meranim paused for a moment, considering her young companions, "And of course, you three are the only ones to have made it to the top of the tower in a week…"

"I think we've just been volunteered," Zan stated with a hint of amusement.

"Do you think we can do it?" Mist hesitantly asked Meranim.

"If anyone can defeat that hideous fiend guarding our precious tower, it's you three."

Mist looked up from Meranim to see the familiar snowy haired man they had saved in the Mages Tower the last time they had been in Sandros.

The Head Sorcerer walked over to stand beside Meranim and looked down to her as he spoke to her, "These are desperate times, my friend, and we must make haste if we are to save our homes. We will travel to the tower, then I will help these two," he gestured to Guiness and Rigby, "To hold the main entrance as you make your way to the testing room with these three."

"Agreed," Meranim replied, "So, let's get a move on."

The party began making their way through alleys and passages between buildings as much as possible in their way across town in order to avoid as many creatures as possible. A handful of venomous beasts got in their way but were made short work of by the group. Soon enough, they came to the end of a narrow street that emptied into the plaza in front of the Mages Tower.

Nearly directly in front of the tower's front entrance was an enormous, sickly green plant-like creature. It stood on a mass of thick vines that slithered back and forth under it as it meandered back and forth across the ground. Its face, if it could be called that, was another mass of tentacle-like vines that were also in constant motion, and appeared to be dripping with slime. Sap perhaps, since it was a plant, after all. The vines surrounded a gaping hole in the creature's body, which was supposed to lead to an acidic sack in the 'stomach' of the Malboro.

All in all, it was a terrifying creature that was feared by adventurers. Though the most fear was for a single reason. Bad Breath. Bad breath was the most unbearable mixture of ailments and afflictions imaginable all at once. Mist began repeating to herself that she would do everything she could to avoid that.

"Well," Meranim quietly began, "There it is. I don't suppose anyone has a plan?"

Mist looked around, and saw that everyone was looking to one another with hopeful looks slowly being dashed as they realized that none of them had come up with anything.

Lani sighed. "I guess we could just try attacking from all sides to confuse it," she suggested.

"We could," the Head Sorcerer agreed, though hesitantly, "Although, the Tower borders the forest. There's only a half-circle arc for us to use. And who knows if that's safe enough to use without more creatures attacking. Facing this beast alone is one thing, but facing it in the midst of battle with the chaos of other creatures as well is pure madness."

"Madness?" Lani asked, "This is-"

"Suicide!" Rigby interrupted, "That thing is even big enough to eat the big guy here," he gestured to Guiness as he spoke, their heights noticeably contrasted.

With a withering glance at Rigby, Lani continued, "As I was saying, this is easy. It's just a plant, right? So all we need to do is barrage it with fireballs. That ought to work, right?" she asked Meranim, and the Head Sorcerer to a lesser extent.

"Well, it may be worth a try, right Alwin?" Meranim mused, looking to the Head Sorcerer, "If we can all get safely around the courtyard, that is."

"I suppose," Alwin agreed, "I shall stay here with Meranim. The rest of you try to spread yourselves out and signal to me here when you are ready."

"I'm afraid I won't be of much usse," Guiness sighed, "I'm not a spellcasster."

"You can come with me," Lani replied, "I could use some help if I run into unexpected company."

"I would be glad to help," Guiness stated proudly, and he and Lani crept towards the other end of the alley to make their way around the courtyard.

"We'll take this side," Lani called just loud enough to be heard by the others at the far end. She was pointing towards the shorter arc of the town towards the forest. If they all spread out, there would be room for one person on that side and two on the other side of town. Mist suddenly realized what her calculations had deduced, and looked to their youngest companion.

"Sooo," Rigby muttered, twisting his foot on the ground and not making eye contact, "What do I do?"

"You can come with me," Zan announced, "We'll take the far side of town, and two of us can handle the greater chance of encounters better than one. Besides, your skills at sneaking may come in handy." Mist chuckled lightly as the two began making their way out of the alley, albeit somewhat reluctantly in Rigby's case.

"I suppose that leaves me around there," Mist pointed to a gap between houses on the other side of the main road leading to the tower.

"That would be best, yes," replied Alwin, "Now be careful, and remember to signal to us when you are ready."

Mist nodded and turned towards the alley's exit.

"Deary," Meranim quietly called to her. Mist turned back to face her mature friend. "Do be careful," she added.

Mist smiled, reassured by the knowledge that the kindly woman cared so much for her. She nodded once more, and turned back towards the chaos of the streets.

Before exiting the alley, Mist pressed herself to the wall and waited for a flan to flop past. The creature seemed to be just wandering, not actually caring about the conflict going on in all directions. It acted as though it had always lived in the town. The behaviour was strange, but beyond Mist's main concern at the time.

Once she was fairly confident that she could move unnoticed, Mist began to shift from one alley to another, checking for other beasts that would halt her progress. She tried as hard as she could to ensure that she could avoid a fight. Any unnecessary attention from one creature could cascade into a battle she was vastly unprepared for.

Ahead of her, Mist caught the occasional glance of Zan dragging Rigby behind him jumping from alley to alley the way Mist was. They had already passed the main challenge that Mist was worried about, and had just come to. The main road was a very large and exposed expanse for her to cross unnoticed. She would have to time it perfectly or risk being seen, not only by a random creature passing by, but by the Malboro. It may just ignore her from this distance, but if it felt threatened by the possibility of someone entering the plaza then she would be in big trouble.

Mist moved carefully to a small gap between a woodshed and the house at the edge of the road. She peered around the corner and couldn't see any creatures near her or the road. At least, not back in the direction of town. She crept around the woodshed to peer into the plaza and see where the Malboro was. Immediately she pulled back, seeing the creature pointed directly towards her and only a few dozen meters away. She looked around, panicked that she may have unintentionally squealed and let something nearby know of her presence, but there was no change in her surroundings. Looking back into the plaza once more, Mist was relieved to see that the creature was still sitting exactly where it had been, unfazed by her presence. She wouldn't move yet, though. Not till she could be more confident that she wouldn't be seen.

After a moment of watching the green mess of vines, it turned and began to slither closer to the tower. With a quick glance at her surroundings, Mist took the chance to dash across the road. She realized, as she made her way further through the town, that if she was that stunned by the creature in a distant encounter like that, then she was going to have a hard time confronting it with any confidence when the time came. She sighed to herself as she arrived at her chosen alley. Zan and Rigby were nowhere to be seen ahead of her, presumably already in their own hiding place.

Mist walked to the end of the alley and looked around. Zan was peering out of his alleyway to her left, further around the arc of the plaza, Meranim and Alwin were at the alley she had left earlier, and she could see a flicker of movement on the far side of the plaza that must have been Lani and Guiness.

Looking to Meranim, Mist drew her sword and reflected a ray of light back and forth across the alley entrance. Another light flickered from Zan's direction, and another from Lani. To say that Mist was nervous would be like saying that a river was flowing. It's quite plain to see, but the force of the flow is only noticeable if you're in the river yourself. Looking at the Malboro once more, Mist knew she wasn't going to enjoy this conflict. Not at all.

* * *

. . .

I'm already working on the next one, cause I'd sort of worked on this as a whole really long chapter and decided "3000 words is enough for this one, so I'll just split it around here." Keep an eye out for more soon. I haven't said this enough lately, but I don't own Final Fantasy. Still working on that degree to let me eventually work for SE, though. Dream big!


	22. Malodorous Maladies

I'd like to give a shout out to my most enthusiastic reader, Ogro. You've helped me guide a couple of important aspects of the story to better explain the world I'm creating. I really appreciate the help that you've given me, and if anyone else wants to make suggestions for what I can improve on I'd be more than happy to hear what you think, so please review. Enough of my ramblings, time for…

Chapter 22

As Mist saw a flame appear in the alley to her right, she held out her own hand and began to envision a candle, ready to strike once she saw Meranim and Alwin were ready.

Suddenly, flames leapt from the other alley and Mist cast her own fireball at the beast. She had been focussing on the signal so much that she had failed to see the Malboro facing straight towards her. When the flurry of fireballs began to strike it, the creature seemed to only see that which was right in front of it. Mist kept attacking, knowing that the fiend could only be defeated if they managed to burn it enough, but the flames only seemed to make it flinch. Meranim and Alwin's spells appeared to be stronger, singeing vines and such, but they were having trouble hitting their mark as the creature began to shift forwards.

Mist, looking for cover, could see a group of Ochus behind her in the street at the other end of the alley. Remembering Alwin's words about their chances of winning against more than just the Malboro, she knew that she couldn't let those creatures get involved in the fight as well. She made the decision to rush for the closest alley further around to her left, closer to Zan and Rigby, in the hopes of being able to escape from the other end.

For a plant creeping on a mass of vines, the Malboro managed to lumber rather quickly when it noticed Mist running away. She was caught off guard as the beast loomed closer, and she tripped. The Malboro stopped short, and Mist knew what it was about to do, but she couldn't bring herself to her feet quick enough to escape in time.

The beast wriggled and writhed for a moment before spewing a putrid and ungodly stench from its mouth analogue. A black cloud of vile smells and even worse toxins flowed over Mist, and began to have their wicked ways with her almost instantly.

She had made it almost to the mouth of the alley when her head began spinning, and her vision turned red. The combination made the whole world a scarlet blur, every object indistinguishable from one another. Her hand that was holding her sword began to feel heavy and stiff, like it was turning to stone. She tried in vain to drop her sword but couldn't summon the strength needed to release her grip. Every new malady was forcing her rage to build, and it was only made worse by the sickening feeling in her stomach that threatened to make her vomit and cry at the same time.

Mist tried to scream to someone for help, but no matter how hard she tried all that escaped her constricted throat was a hoarse wheeze. Her dizziness and weak stomach caused her to stumble to the ground, catching herself on one knee and using her immoveable sword to hold herself from falling further. It felt as though she was stumbling in water, like she was much slower than usual in everything but her perception. That, or the spinning from her dizziness was making her perception seem like it was at normal speed.

As Mist tried to right herself, she began to feel yet another torturous feeling in her chest; a sense that her heart was slowly beginning to fail her, as though she didn't have long to live. She knew that without help soon she would die, from one cause or another. Heck, she hadn't even considered that this would simply be the excuse that the Malboro needed to finish her off.

A sudden blur of motion near her made Mist jolt to attention, and in her rage she swung her sword as hard as she could. No stupid creature was going to finish her off without a fight! She could feel the rage boiling inside of her, and she knew that it wasn't her normal self, but she couldn't suppress it.

She was brought to her senses, only for a moment, when she heard the sound of steel striking steel. Her vision only cleared long enough for her to see Zan's worried face looking at her as he fell backwards from her heavy swing.

_What am I doing?_ Mist asked herself, unable to control her anger, but instead redirecting it at herself. She felt a strange urge to stab herself, and she began uncontrollably lifting the sword to her chest. Quickly, she focussed her thoughts on the sounds of the roaring Malboro, swinging the sword swiftly and wildly away from herself.

She couldn't be sure, but from the small blurs, stifled shouts, and repeated bright flashes, her friends were still battling the beast close by. It sounded as though the foul plant was weakening. With that thought, Mist was on her knees again, her heart slowing even more. It was like she was falling asleep in the middle of a race. Everything was telling her she needed to keep awake, but she couldn't help feeling an urge to just lie down and give up.

"Esuna!"

Mist couldn't tell where that female voice had come from, but she knew the spell had been cast on her. She could tell because it had been close enough that her addled brain could make out the whole word, and because the sickening urge to throw up had suddenly subsided. That was the only effect to have gone away, so it had to have been Lani casting the spell. Lani wasn't very strong magically, so her spell had only been able to cure a single malady cast upon Mist.

"That didn't help!" Mist tried to shout, but her voice couldn't convey anything more than an irritated wheeze. She appreciated the attempt, or at least she thought she did, but the rage made it hard to withhold any aggression. If it hadn't been for the fact that Mist needed her sword as a stand to keep her from falling on her face, she probably would have swung it around to try and hit Lani. Not intentionally, of course. Never. She just couldn't help it.

"Esuna!"

It was a different voice, from a different direction. Suddenly the world came back into colour. It stopped spinning, and it was all at its natural pace. Mist could feel her heart speeding up again, racing in fact. She let out a loud sigh of relief as she flopped down on the ground, finally able to release her sword. As she turned her head to the side, peering across the ground from the mouth of the alley, she could see the slumping form of the Malboro slowly beginning to fade and flow away on the wind.

Mist wiped away a small rivulet of tears. She wasn't sure if they were for the pain, or the fear, or if they were from relief, or the regret of almost hurting Zan, or for thinking that she might have attacked Lani, or that she'd almost killed herself, or just that she'd almost died. She had so many reasons to cry, so maybe they were just going to keep coming. Perhaps her body thought it should try and cater for all her feelings, but she'd have to save it for later.

"Here," Zan offered Mist a hand to help her up.

"I'm so sorry," Mist blurted out as she buried her face in his shoulder, "I didn't mean to hurt you. I couldn't stop myself. I didn't mean it! I'm so sorry!"

"Mist, calm down," Zan reassured her, placing a hand gently on her back, and used the other to soothingly brush her frizzed, blue hair, "You were berserked. There's no need to apologize. You didn't have control of your aggression."

"That Bad Breath is a vile mix of horrible poisons," Meranim added, "It does terrible things to a person. You're lucky you weren't alone when that got you or you may not have lasted much longer."

Mist suddenly remembered her surroundings and noticed Zan's hands for the first time. She was sure that her face was bright red, but she could blame her emotions over what had just happened. Just to be safe, she gently pushed away and Zan slowly let her go.

"We need to get going," Mist announced timidly, her voice still noticeably hoarse from her afflictions, and from her sobbing.

"Agreed," the Head Sorcerer said as he peered around the plaza, "We should make our move to the Tower now while there are still no creatures in the area. I doubt it will take long for them to notice the Malboro has vacated this place and try to take it for their own."

"Then let uss go," Guiness agreed, raising his sword over his shoulder and quickly but cautiously making his way towards the Tower's entrance.

Lani came over to Mist as they all began to hastily fall in behind the Bangaa. "I saw that," she whispered in a sly tone, "Nice job using your condition as an excuse to get close. Even I'm not that good an actress." Mist wasn't sure she could blush anymore than she already was, but she certainly wasn't going to stop for a while.

"I wasn't acting," Mist pleaded, "I'm really sorry."

Lani considered her friend with a close glance up and down. "No, you weren't," she replied more seriously, "And you're still crying, so you really should have milked that a bit more." Mist chuckled a little, Lani's ever-persistent humorous charm lifting her spirits.

The Mage's Tower was just as it had been the last time Mist had seen it. The entrance hall was still dark and only lit by a handful of the many torches lining the walls. Meranim took one of the lower placed torches that still held a flame and gestured for the others to do the same.

"We will guard the Tower from here," Alwin announced, facing the entrance, "We await your return, Meranim. Good luck, you four."

Mist looked to Guiness, who gave her a grin and a nod before turning back to the entrance and standing beside Alwin. Rigby, on the other hand, looked towards the entrance, then back at Mist with a worried twitch in his eyes and a look that said 'You're kidding, right?'

"It's probably more dangerous upstairs," she told him. He glanced at the ceiling, considering.

"You're probably right," he sighed, sounding almost disappointed.

As he went to join Alwin and Guiness, Mist turned to join Lani, Zan, and Meranim as they made their way up the first flight of stairs towards the testing chamber.

Mist's assumption had been right. Ascending the Tower seemed like it was going to be far more dangerous than guarding the front door. Once they'd reached the first floor, a group of flans dropped from the roof and began to writhe and scatter about.

* * *

After slowly fighting off flan after elemental after flan, the group finally reached the testing chamber once more. There was no chimera this time, which was a great relief for the teens. They were a little hesitant about what they would find in the chamber itself, though. Last time they had come face-to-illusion with Omega himself, and this time the whole town was in chaos instead of just the Tower. Who could say what was causing this insanity, but Mist was willing to bet that it was in that room.

As they passed through the antechamber, Meranim opened the inner doors to reveal nothing more than the mess the teens had found upon their first visit.

"Well, this is a dreadful sight," Meranim muttered to herself, "But I think we may be in luck…"

Mist was inclined to agree. With no apparent danger in sight, they were certainly more fortunate than she had been anticipating. It was a welcome change to the usual expected "unexpected-troubles" they had been encountering. Mist was just hoping that those thoughts wouldn't jinx their current state of calm.

Meranim waded through the piles of book fragments and broken furniture to the remains of a desk. The legs of the desk were mostly destroyed, or in one case entirely missing, but the body of the desk was intact. She reached down to a notch in the side and pulled out a small hidden drawer. Inside was a folded piece of parchment.

"Ha, still here," she mused.

"What is it?" Mist asked, peering curiously at the paper.

"Well," Meranim began, "I was always a cautious one. My teacher, Alpha's grace guide her, taught me the spell to create a barrier from the page of Exodus herself. She showed me the hiding place in the wall over there," she gestured to the hole in the wall where Omega's illusion had seemed to grab something, "And told me to keep the page secret. So, I did, but I wrote down the spell anyway. Just in case something should ever happen, as it would seem that something has."

Lani seemed a little jumpy all of a sudden, looking all around as though searching for something missing. Mist wasn't sure what had got into her friend, possibly the same state of surprise Mist had felt upon realising that the room contained no new danger, but Mist had always known that Lani was a bit odd so it could wait till later. Mist was more interested in the spell written by one of the Nine Sorcerers.

"I knew old Neni had chosen a bright student," mused a harsh but cheery voice from the shadows.

* * *

. . .

I fear I'm getting a little predictable in where I choose to end my chapters. Ahh well, I need more time to figure out how the next chapter is going to continue, anyway. And no, don't assume that means I'm just making this whole thing up as I go along. Well…sometimes I am, but there is a plan! Anyway, it's not that I don't know what's going to happen next, just that I haven't decided how. Hopefully from now on I'll be able to manage more writing and less time spent on hiatus. I promise that no matter how long it takes, and I'll try keeping that to a minimum, I WILL finish this story.

I don't own Final Fantasy.


	23. Help From Beyond

Ok, so it's been several months once again since I updated. I've had a lot going on and I'd had writer's block for a while, but enough excuses. Here's…

Chapter 23

Lani spun around, startled. "I knew you'd be here somewhere," she grumbled as she looked towards the slowly forming illusion of a Nu Mou.

Mist was rather confused by the newcomer, but assumed from the familiarity of the translucent visitor that this must be Exodus, the ancient Nu Mou Sorceress.

"Mind your manners, young one," Exodus chided.

Lani was visibly thrown off her usual pedestal of confidence by the Sorceress' words, looking at her feet and nervously scratching at the hair on the nape of her neck. Mist began to feel a similar feeling of discomfort. She had liked the three Sorcerers that had been in her dream because they had been gentle and careful about their appearance towards her, but Exodus was beginning to remind her of her first impression of Fenrir. He had softened into a nice enough Moogle, but Exodus showed no sign of an underlying gentle side.

Zan seemed to be taking things in well, though he seemed a little puzzled. He ran a hand through his emerald hair as he considered the illusion carefully. Meranim, on the other hand...

"By Alpha, can you really be Exodus?" she exclaimed, "I've spent my life studying your work and your teachings. Every spell I could find."

"Well, it's good to know I'm being appreciated after all this time," Exodus replied cheerfully, "A bright one indeed, you are."

"Umm" Lani muttered cautiously still betraying her sudden lack of confidence, "Meranim?"

"Oh, yes dear?" Meranim replied, breaking her idol trance and turning to face Lani, a beaming smile still on her face.

"Why don't you let us examine that parchment," Lani suggested, holding her hand out casually, "And you can chat with Exodus here."

"Ha!" Exodus chuckled, "You think you lot can cast that? You're but beginners, you three," she gestured to the teenagers, "And even with Meranim, and old Alwin downstairs, you couldn't possibly muster the power for this just yet. Not on such short notice, at any rate."

"Well then," a hint of fire back in Lani's voice, "What do you suggest we do? Let the creatures wreak havoc through town?"

"Hmph," Exodus harrumphed, looking thoughtfully at Lani with a hint of a smile on her lips, "Well you certainly have spunk, though you lack manners. There is another solution."

"And what might that be?" Zan asked, breaking his self-imposed silence.

Exodus tilted back her head and simply stated, "I shall help you."

"But how?" Meranim asked, so shocked that she nearly tripped on a piece of broken chair.

"With her help," Exodus answered, just as simply but with a touch of humour at the look on Lani's face. A look that suggested sudden nerves and unease.

"Uhh," Lani cracked a very cautious open smile, "How, exactly, will I be doing that?"

"Fenrir has shown you the way of summoning," Exodus began in a voice implying great knowledge, "But I shall teach you a new way to control such power. Each of us Sorcerers and Sorceresses has an element; a variety of magic that we specialize in. Through me, your skills of many spells can be enhanced, though I cannot help you often. Such a power is hard to control. Fenrir did his best, but our time in this world has passed, and beyond our homes it is very hard to maintain our presence."

"So you can manifest yourselves like this when we're at your homes?" Mist asked, trying hard to follow what the Sorceress was explaining.

"That's right, dear," Exodus replied, somewhat more politely than she had spoken to Lani in Mist's opinion, "And this is how it is done."

* * *

Rigby peeked through the crack in the door again, nervously counting the hounds that had been sealed outside. Five foes had been tough enough when they had caught the trio off guard, but now he counted at least eighteen. There were more than simply Viper Hounds waiting for them, though. A handful of Bite Bugs and even an Ochu were wandering around in the courtyard region surrounding the tower.

"Any new plans?" he asked his companions cautiously.

"For the last time, young man," Alwin replied, somewhat frustrated by the Moogle's constant nervous questioning, "There is little we can do but wait for now. The creatures may yet leave, and if they do not we must defeat them. They must be removed from the town one way or another."

"Hmm," Guiness pondered, examining a wall once more, "I sstill don't quite understand why these sscratches are here," he mused, noticing a set of parallel etched lines next to an empty torch holder, "They almost look like claw markss, but what manner of creature could have made them? And it looks as though it took the torch that would have been here."

"You're putting too much thought into this," Alwin chided, "Honestly, is such a thing really a concern? It may simply have been the last beast to assault this tower. A chimera. The position of the scratches is merely coincidence."

"You are awfully willing to accept coincidence, master Sorcerer," Guiness mused, "Is there perhaps something more we should know? After all, our friends are ascending this tower and have hopefully reached its peak by now. Do you believe something more may be awaiting them?"

"You...you don't think," Rigby stuttered, "There's some kind of...demon in here, do you?"

"Certainly not!" Alwin stated firmly, maintaining enough composure to keep his voice down. Enough noise from the trio could provoke another frantic strike from the hounds prowling outside. "Even the suggestion of such a thing is an insult to this building and its honoured students," the Head Sorcerer continued.

"Calm yourself," Guiness interjected, "There'ss no need to be so harsh on the boy. He's jusst a little worried."

"Hmm," Alwin regained his calm exterior, "A demon could never enter this building. Such a creature hasn't even been seen since the war."

"I'm sorry," Rigby mumbled, "It's just...I'm worried about the others, and there's creatures waiting just outside, and I've never been in such a big fight before," he flopped down on the floor, daggers held in his hands resting either side of him and his pompom hovering in front of his face, "I hope we get though all this soon."

"We're ssafe in here for now," Guiness reassured the young thief, "Just relax until our friends return."

* * *

"I can't believe we hadn't noticed our gil was stolen as well," Wedge whined for the umpteenth time.

"Will you quit complaining about that," Biggs replied, "We're just lucky that ferry captain needed some help and was willing to pay us. Wonder how he got all those cactuar needles anyway."

"Does it matter?" Wedge asked, removing a bandana from his rough brown hair. According to the captain it was to stop his temporary help, which included a number of locals as well as the Chocoknights, from hiding needles in their hair and stealing them. Wedge rubbed his sore scalp.

Noticing his companion's careful consideration of his injured head, Biggs gave him a slight slap to the back of it.

"Ow!" Wedge shouted, "Would you leave my head alone."

"Well," Biggs replied, removing his own bandana and letting out his longer blond hair, "That's what you get for rushing and falling into a pile of needles head first. Honestly, what were you expecting?"

Wedge sighed. "I suppose I deserved it," he muttered with a hint of insincerity, "But forget about that for now. We have enough to buy two chocobos, right?"

Biggs held up their gil pouch and bounced it, as though measuring its contents by weight alone, "Yeah, this should be enough. But where do we head to now? No real clues here, and nothing much to go on from Sandros…"

As though he had been waiting for this moment in conversation, a Moogle guard approached the two holding a letter in his tiny hands.

"Are you two gentlemen Chocoknights by the names of Wedge and Biggs?" he asked the pair.

"Why, yes we are," Biggs replied, "Would you like our autographs?" he asked, reaching to take the paper from the Moogle's hand.

"…Uhh, no," the guard replied, his green pompom slumping into his field of view, "I have a letter for you from Andandrea."

"Hmm," Wedge mused, accepting the letter from the Moogle, "What could this be about?" He opened the envelope, sealed with the winged anchor emblem of Andandrean office, particularly the mayor. He read for a moment and turned to his companion. "Seems we've been called off the case for the time being. Costa Porti want some extra security for the latter half of the upcoming tournament. We're to head back to Andandrea for a brief with the mayor before going directly to the tournament."

"Well, at least it'll give us some time for new clues to pop up," Biggs sighed, "If these adventurers we're after have got a taste for action then they'll cause some chaos soon enough and we'll find them."

The pair thanked the guard and made their way to the stables by the edge of town. It was late afternoon, and the pair was reluctant to camp in bandit-infested plains again, but there was a town along the main roads to Andandrea that they could still make by nightfall.

* * *

Guiness lifted his broadsword onto his shoulder and stood ready to swipe at whatever was charging down the stairs. It wouldn't be the first time a flan had tumbled down to greet them unexpectedly. He was more than happy to drop his guard though when four familiar faces turned the corner into the main foyer.

"Is everything alright down here?" Mist asked.

"Much better now," Rigby replied, a smile helping him to alleviate some of his fears.

"Did you find it?" Alwin asked as he approached Meranim, a curious expression painting his face as he examined his Nu Mou companion's gleeful smile.

"Oh, that and more, old friend," she replied, looking across at Lani who appeared to feel uneasy upon noticing the attention.

"So, we moving now?" she asked to try and redirect the group's focus from her.

"Well, about that..." Rigby began, trailing off as though the horde outside the door should be obvious.

"We've got a bit of a path to cut," Guiness interrupted, "But we should be fine once we pass the courtyard."

"Well then," Zan stepped towards the door, "Shall we?"

* * *

Mist swept her blade low, slicing into the body of the Ochu and forcing it to topple over. As the corpse faded to black smoke yet another Viper Hound rounded a corner in time to notice them.

"Come on," Alwin called to them, "The town centre is just down this road!"

The hound pursued the party as they charged down the side street towards a market district that they had visited for supplies upon leaving Sandros only a few days earlier. Alwin and Meranim were holding off a number of Bite Bugs hovering around a fruit stall, and a handful of other sorcerers were doing their best to fend off a continuous onslaught of creatures leaping from alleyways.

As the hound behind them pounced towards them, Lani took the moment to spin and fire an arrow through the beast's neck, landing gracefully back on her feet and moving into full stride with near perfect fluidity.

"Show off," Mist muttered to her Viera companion. Lani smirked and poked her tongue out playfully before focussing once more on their surroundings. They arrived in the centre of the market, and Mist, Zan, Guiness, and Rigby took up defensive positions around Lani.

Lani replaced her bow over her shoulder and placed her hands by her side. She closed her eyes, took a calm breath, and focussed her mind on the Mage's Tower, as Exodus had told her. With the memory of the Sorceress' home in her mind, Lani felt the old Nu Mou's presence in her mind. It was a subtle force that seemed to spread to a vast expanse in her body, something not quite like anything Lani could remember feeling before. As she opened her eyes, anyone looking at her would have seen the gentle green glow of Exodus within the amber of Lani's own eyes. Though she couldn't see that sign of power, she could hear the ancient Nu Mou as she recited the spell, the words coming to her as though she'd said them a thousand times before.

"Radiants that repel the dark,  
Scatter here in brilliant arc.  
Foul beasts depart, scathe and scourge,  
Here all creatures shall be purged!"

As she recited the spell, Lani lifted a hand towards the sky above Sandros, and as the last word left her mouth a brilliant display began. Light began to rain in gentle shards toward the ground. As she looked around, Lani could see the effect that the light was having. Bite Bugs were being struck and falling down dead, Viper Hounds were being wounded and ran off yelping. Even Ochus were feeling the hurt, using their vines as cover to shield themselves as they scurried for the edge of town.

The best part of the show was far from over, though. Above the centre of town, where Lani had pointed her hand only moments ago, the coloured shards of light were slowly starting to adhere to one another as they formed. Bit by bit, more shards fell into place within an aurora that was beginning to form a wide dome over all of Sandros. As it grew, more light formed a part of the dome, and it quickly lowered its edges to the ground. For a brief moment, all of Sandros was surrounded in the most beautiful wall of illuminated colour. Walls, roofs, and even faces reflected the luminance of a warm rainbow. Ripples of light danced across every surface, and the most amazing patterns shimmered in the omnipresent glow. Almost as soon as it had formed, however, the barrier grew brighter to a pure white light, and when it seemed that it would become blinding it suddenly shattered into a sparkling wall of luminous specks, fading from sight.

The whole spectacle had been marvellous, but what relieved Mist the most was that there wasn't a creature in sight. People were looking around and dancing in the street. It was a wonderful sight, almost as much as the spectacular light of moments before, but this filled Mist with a different joy, that of accomplishment.

"Don't know what you're looking so proud for," Lani chimed in, sensing Mist's happiness, "I did all the work."

Mist looked to her friend, staring at her with a mixture of pride, amusement, and fatigue. She beamed at her, and giggled as she pulled her in for a hug. They had helped save a whole town of people from vicious creatures. They could all be proud of this moment, even if Lani had been responsible for the final act.

* * *

"Once again, children," Alwin announced, surrounded by the handful of surviving council members, "Sandros is forever in your debt." Lani was visibly irked by being referred to as a child, but Mist spoke before she could put her foot too far down her throat.

"Thank you, Magi Alwin," Mist replied, using the formal honorific of an accomplished sorcerer, "It was our pleasure to help in a time of need. We only wish we could have been here sooner."

"What's done is done," Alwin stated calmly, gesturing to reassure Mist, "None could ask more of you than has been given. Whatever supplies you need are yours and shall be made ready for your departure tomorrow."

"Actually," Zan interrupted, "We have plenty of time today to reach as far as Erebi. That should ease our journey back to Andandrea tomorrow."

"An excellent idea, my boy," Guiness agreed, "We'll stay at my housse tonight. I'm ssure Krayl would appreciate the company," Guiness looked north-west towards his home, and after a moment began to chuckle, "And it would seem preparations for our departure are already underway."

Off towards the edge of the market, Kerta was ordering around a group of storekeepers carrying small crates and baskets from atop the cart. He looked as though he was enjoying the control over all the people carrying supplies from shops and market stalls alike. Mist started to worry. It was hard enough fitting in the cart before. What would it be like with all these new supplies as well? The group bid the Head Sorcerer farewell and headed back to the cart in order to make the most of the day's remaining light.

"Oh, Meranim," Mist gasped, only then remembering the reason for their return to Sandros in the first place, "We have your cactuar needles!"

"Oh, that's wonderful, dear," the Nu Mou replied delightedly, "I'll go grab my minerals pouch and we can get going then."

Mist, Lani, and Zan all looked at each other with puzzled expressions.

"What are you talking about?" Lani asked, less tactfully than some might have expressed the same confusion.

"Oh, well I'm going with you," Meranim replied matter-of-factly, "You can't expect to introduce me to an ancient Sorceress that I've devoted all my life to studying and then just expect me to wave goodbye now, can you?" She smiled widely as she turned to gather her belongings, and Mist, Lani, and Zan returned to their friends by the cart to inform them of their new travelling partner.

It was certainly going to be a crowded cart. The group would probably need a second one if their numbers grew any more. At least Meranim wouldn't need much space, assuming her supplies were minimal.

Once again, Mist, Lani, and Zan left Sandros behind. This time, however, they left with more than they had before. Supplies, friends, a sense of accomplishment, and more importantly the thanks of an entire town.

* * *

. . .

I needed an inspiration to get back to writing, and what better inspiration is there than to find out what our old friends Wedge and Biggs are up to? Well, that and it's a distraction from all the work I've got. Funny that. I only seem to write when I DON'T have the time for it. Ironic, really. Anyway, I'm so, so sorry that I took so long once again. I'd say it won't happen again, but I really can't honestly say that. More than likely, it will happen again. Hopefully not next chapter, though. I'll have to put that off for at least a week and a half, though. Two assignments and an essay to get done before next Friday. So yeah, bit of work to do. Anyway, thanks for bearing with me. I don't own Final Fantasy.


	24. Grave Warning

So yeah, it happened again. I know, I'm slack and don't put nearly enough time into important things, this included. Still, I haven't quite figured everything out for this story. It kind of comes to me as I go some of the time, but there are key things I have planned, and even short sections of future chapters I can hardly wait to just copy and paste straight into the story. I'm just that happy with them, and a little excited about one or two in particular. Anyway, now that I'm super busy with uni work I find myself trying to get distracted from it by writing this. It's weird the way my mind works sometimes. But I won't keep you with this intro any longer. Here's…

Chapter 24

Mist could see Lani beginning to become visibly tense from her conversation with Meranim. She didn't know much about Exodus, and couldn't contact her either, so there was little she could do to alleviate Meranim's curiosity. The combination of that and her attempt to remain polite, despite her probable desire to strangle the Nu Mou healer, was more than Mist had seen Lani take without exploding before. She was extremely relieved, as she felt Lani would be, when Erebi finally rolled into view.

"I don't think we'll be needing ssupplies now," Guiness shouted back to the group in the cart, "Sso there's no need to go shopping. We can head straight back to my place and have dinner." He smiled broadly, which Mist had often found looked creepy from a Bangaa, however Guiness managed to pull it off with a degree of charm.

Mist partly attributed the grin to his generous payment for the delivery he made just before the group left town. It had been a simple mail package of some sort, but the woman who received it recognized Lani from her spectacular light show and decided that a friend of hers ought to be paid well. Lani was less impressed since she got none of the payment, because as brash as she was she wouldn't go as far as to ask for something she wasn't offered if she hadn't earned it. Well, unless it was Mist or Zan.

As the cart rolled into town, Mist looked around at the sight of shops closing and the sun setting over the roofs ahead of her. Erebi was becoming a familiar and comforting sight, and its small, quiet streets were a sight mostly unknown in Andandrea. Mist had grown up in the busy streets of a city and loved the contrast of all the little towns she'd passed on the journey already, but Erebi was the only one actually on the main road between cities. Every other town was off a short road, keeping out the general traffic that had picked up again after word had got out that bandits were being caught. Of course, the three that the party had caught days earlier were only the tip of the proverbial iceberg, but it was enough to give traders confidence again. Traders with guards, at least. The inns seemed somewhat busier thanks to the increased traffic, which made Mist glad that their accommodation was already settled. Guiness pulled up in front of the door with the chocobo on it and let the party out of the cart.

"Head on in," he called back to them from atop Storm, "We'll be with you shortly," and with that, he and Kerta took the cart around back.

Lani knocked on the door and Krayl greeted them warmly, apparently acquainted with Meranim from some prior business between her and Guiness. Mist quite gratefully flopped into a big, soft armchair before Krayl could finish telling everyone to make themselves comfortable. Even with the mostly soft uniforms to sit on, Mist was still sore after travelling all afternoon. She'd hoped more than once for a bandit or some random encounter with a creature or two just as an excuse to get up. Sadly, the trip had been much less eventful than that.

Guiness and Kerta came in through the back door and set the piles of uniforms on a shelf.

"Krayl," Guiness called to his brother, "Would you mind giving me a hand with dinner?"

"Be right there," Krayl replied, wrapping up a conversation with Meranim.

Mist's gaze wandered about the room as she let her body sink into the soft cushions of the seat. Lani had taken up the other armchair, slumping into it probably as ungracefully as Mist had herself. Rigby sat on one of the thick armrests, laying flat without reaching either end. Meranim and Kerta had taken seats at the table near the kitchen and were chatting with Guiness about business and the post-chaos of Sandros. And Zan was…

"Mind if I join you?" Zan asked, standing right in front of her. Mist was visibly startled to see Zan so close. He'd been by the table only moments before and she'd begun to relax a little too quickly. Zan stifled a laugh, "If it's ok with you, of course. There are only two armchairs here, and as you can imagine my butt hurts probably as much as yours."

Mist tried her hardest to hide the fact that there were three words in what he'd said that were now stuck in her mind, and the imagery to match. She decided just to focus on his face and what he had to say as she nodded and moved over to let Zan sit beside her on the generously sized chair.

"I'm beginning to wonder," Zan whispered, "How long we can travel with our new friends before it becomes impossible to hide our real quest. And when the time comes that we must disclose it, how much we can entrust to anyone."

Mist looked around at Rigby, Meranim, Kerta, and the brief glimpses of Guiness in the kitchen. "I think we can trust Meranim, certainly," she whispered back, "And I like Guiness. I trust him."

"And so it comes to Rigby," Zan interjected, "Whom I've been wondering about as well. Just how far can anyone trust a thief?"

"I know what you mean," Mist mused, carefully glancing at the relaxing Moogle whom Lani was now trying her hardest to ignore, "But he's just a kid. I just don't see him being dangerous."

"Hmm," Zan replied, which Mist felt was more a consideration of her decision rather than the implications it made. Zan was measuring her by her choice, as he did sometimes when he did that careful planning thing of his. He'd look at everything, take other people's opinions, and then make up his own mind. Mist felt a bit of a chill sometimes when he did that because it gave her that feeling of being judged, even though she knew that wasn't what he was doing. "Perhaps you're right. Without any proof to the contrary, I suppose there's no reason not to trust him. Still, not just yet, right?"

Mist looked back at Zan, suddenly reminded of just how close he was sitting, "Uhh, right," she replied with a gentle sigh, cautiously looking back across the room at nothing in particular, "No need to say anything just yet."

* * *

The small house was beginning to feel more compact as they shared it with yet another travelling companion for the night. Rigby had slept in Krayl's room, Zan and Kerta had shared Guiness' room, and Mist, Lani, and Meranim had shared the guest room. Mist decided that the house had certainly not been built with so many residents in mind. Thankfully the night went quickly after all the excitement of the day before. Soon enough, breakfast had passed in a similarly rushed style to their last stay and the group were aboard the cart ready to leave for Andandrea.

_Home_, Mist thought. _We're going home._

It was an odd thought. She hadn't been so far away from home before, so the feeling of going back was new, as well as the knowledge that it was just a pause on their way to the blitzball tournament. Again, that was only the short-term destination. It was likely that after the tournament it would be even longer before they would see Andandrea again.

Mist was surprised that she wasn't more disheartened by the fact that she would be spending so much time away from home, doing dangerous things, facing great odds. She was impressed by her own apparent courage.

Guiness turned the cart south as they approached the only major road to connect with the route between Duntarine and Sandros. The air was still cold as the sun was only just beginning to rise above the tall canopy of the Venomwood to the east. Shadows still stretched across the plains near the forest and even as far as the road they were on, though not for very long as the road curved away from the woods and towards the enormous bay to the south west.

Technically speaking, it wasn't a bay. It was far too large. It was more of a gulf, but it was named Lau Bay long ago and people just didn't seem to care that the name was wrong. Mist loved looking out into the water near Andandrea, watching the ferries and other vessels pass by. It wouldn't be too long before the coast was in sight and the smell of the sea would fill the air.

In the meantime, the journey would take most of the day and Mist had things to consider. First of all, something had been bothering her in the back of her mind that she had been hesitant to allow into conscious thought. If Omega was running around and trying to regain his power, why hadn't he come after them himself? Where was he hiding? And why hadn't anyone actually seen him, apart from the Head Sorcerer and Evelyn? Both were questions that would be very hard to find a satisfying answer to, and Mist was just happy that the former hadn't happened yet. The longer it was before she had to face something as tough as Omega the better. Of course, if he was only getting stronger…

Mist sighed as she leant over the side of the cart, not very happy at where her thoughts were leading her.

_How do you fight something like that?_ She pondered. The warm glow of the morning sun began to light the back of Mist's head and she gently dozed off back into a disturbed sleep.

* * *

As Mist looked around, she recognised her surroundings. The tables of candles and spectacularly wide diamond tiled floor of the Hall of Sorcery spread out around her and in front of her were Bahamut, Fenrir, and Eve.

"What am I doing back here?" Mist asked them, slightly confused.

"We needed to speak with you again, Mist," Bahamut began.

"And you conveniently fell asleep," Fenrir quickly interjected, "So here we are."

"Oh," Mist replied, a little embarrassed though she wasn't sure why she should be. It had taken a while for her to fall asleep the night before. In fact, Mist had been having trouble sleeping for over a week now, which didn't really surprise her.

"Mist," Eve said in her gentle yet commanding voice, "Your achievements have been great so far in your journey, but be warned; they have not gone unnoticed."

Eve held out her hand and began to draw in mid air. As she did, a line of sparkling gold light trailed behind the tip of her finger. She began with a flat line, then curved up and around in almost a full circle until she was level with the first line again and finished flat. The image looked like an O that had been broken at the bottom and bent outwards.

"Beware this symbol and all who bear it, Mist," Eve added sternly, "It is Omega's symbol. They follow him, and will do all in their power to see that you and your friends fail. They will not hesitate to kill if necessary, and will most likely be trying to hunt you down. For their master's sake, they will most likely remain hidden but you should remain alert at all times."

"But," Mist muttered hesitantly, "Do they know who we are? Do they know where we're going? Do they know what we look like?"

"We're not mind readers," Fenrir replied rather gruffly, "All we know is that they know someone is doing things to try and stop their master. It's possible that they know at least your descriptions, but otherwise we know as little as you. After all, we no longer have a presence in the world more than you have seen of us. We will do what we can for you and your friends, Mist, but for now this is all we can provide. Be careful, and wake up…"

* * *

The light of the only torch in the small, stone room was dimmed as a cloaked figure stood before it. His imposing shadow spread across a group of similarly clad figures on the floor in front of the step he commanded the room from. The figures below were silent as the man spoke.

"My brothers," his harsh yet soft voice bore a degree of comfort for the others in the room, "Our lord has returned and is studying his findings. He reminds us that his pursuers are still at large, and that they consist of mere children." The figure lowered his head further to hide his thin black beard, the only feature of his face that had been visible beneath the black shadows of his hood. As he did, his voice took on a more serious and cold tone, "They must be dealt with before they can acquire more of what our lord needs."

The figure's audience gave a unison murmur of agreement before turning to the door. The figures all dressed alike formed a sea of blood-red hooded robes, each bearing the black symbol of Omega.

* * *

. . .

Well, this looks like a reasonably good place to break for another chapter. I'll get back to writing again around Easter because as much as I'd like to continue now I have 3 major assessment tasks coming up and almost no time to do them. I blame my constant procrastination, as always. I know there wasn't much in that chapter, and the part at the end there kind of came to me as I went, but I was going to put something to that effect in there sooner or later. Kind of makes sense to have it there now, I suppose. Even leaves room for another idea I had for a chapter coming up soon. Guess my plan to let the story write itself around a skeleton plot continues to pay off. Well, I hope you didn't mind too much about the major delay, but be prepared for a few more weeks minimum before I get a chance for any more. Actually, it'll either be a couple of days or several weeks before I get something new depending on my inspiration/mood/workload. So yeah, just wait and see I suppose.

I still don't own Final Fantasy.


	25. No Place Like Home

So…a year since I last updated. What can I say, life gets complicated. Sorry I keep all of you in such suspense. Uhh, not that there are all that many of you for me to keep in suspense. So yeah, this took me a while because of a few things, but mostly writer's block that continued until some life issues came up. I've dealt with that for the most part, so now I want to get back to writing. It's also because I've reached a point in the story where I'm not entirely sure what's happening. It feels like something important is due but I'm not quite sure what. You see, a lot of this story is made up as I go along, but there are some things that evolve from that process and end up being solid ideas that I'll use later. I've managed to build up quite a few of those, so there's some good stuff in store for those of you who stick around, which I hope will be all of you. In the meantime, here's…

Chapter 25

Mist didn't wake up immediately, but she didn't dream anything else either. Peaceful sleep had been rare for her lately. She had constantly been having nightmares of one thing or another the past few nights, as though there was something taunting her in her own mind. Mist just attributed it to the stress of being told that the fate of the world rested on her. Not an easy thing to deal with, as one can only imagine, and Mist simply wasn't used to such responsibility.

A bump in the road jolted Mist back to consciousness, and she was immediately delighted with the sight before her. The sparkling blue waves of the ocean were in sight, the smell of salt was in the air, and even a few gulls could be seen in the distance. The familiar sight of the waters near her home was soothing, but it also made Mist begin to wonder how long she'd been asleep.

Looking up, the sun was fairly high above the woods to the west, but it couldn't be more than a few hours since they'd departed.

"G'morning sleepy-head," Lani laughed at her, playfully poking her tongue out.

Mist just looked flatly at her friend and rested her head back against her arm on the cart's rim and smiled gently at the distant waves. Her light blue hair blew about a little in the passing breeze, and the mostly smooth road made her actually feel somewhat relaxed.

"Now hold on there, girly," Meranim quipped, "Don't you go falling back to sleep," and with that Mist felt a rude poke to her rear. Turning sharply to sit up where she was, she faced Meranim across the cart holding her staff out in Mist's direction. "That's better."

"So then," Lani began, "What should we do to pass the time? Anyone for Fortuna? I've got my dice right here…"

"Do you feel that playing in a moving vehicle might finally give you a fair chance?" Zan asked her with a sly grin.

Lani once again bared her tongue, staring toward the floor of the cart and only sparing a brief glance at the elf, "Any better ideas then?" she asked, obvious irritation in her tone.

"Well if you sprouts want something to use your time for," Meranim replied, "How about something productive? Would you kids like to learn a new spell?"

"Really?" Mist asked, "Do you think you can teach us in our current conditions?"

"Of course, lass," Meranim replied jovially, "I've taught in worse places than this. All right, now let's see. What do you kids need to know…"

* * *

The cart ahead moved along past the city walls, leaving room for Guiness to pull up to the guards that were gesturing them forward.

"Quite an odd bunch with you here, Guiness," the guard quipped, apparently familiar with the transporter. Mist thought she recognized him as well. He was a young human man, probably only a few years older than her. Well, this was home, so she'd probably seen him dozens of times. Home. Mist was glad to be back, but she had been somewhat apprehensive as well. How would she explain all the events of her travels without putting her parents into a state of shock?

The cart rolled on. Guiness waved goodbye to the guard as the cart progressed through the city gates and into the main streets of Andandrea. The familiar sites and smells were a comfort to Mist. A light sea breeze cooled the evening air and the waves on the not-too-distant ocean shone red and orange in the sunset when they could be seen between the many buildings lining the street.

"Ok kidss," Guiness shouted over his shoulder, "Looks like we'll be catching a ferry tomorrow, given the hour. Why don't you three head home," he gestured to Mist and her friends, "While Meranim and Rigby can sstay with me and Kerta." He reined in Storm and both chocobos stopped together.

Mist gratefully jumped down from the cart, glad to feel her extremities in motion again. She had to hold the cart's tall wheel for a moment to make sure her legs didn't give way beneath her. Zan gently offered her a hand when he noticed her uneasiness, but Mist hastily stood straight and merely thanked him for the offer, turning back towards Guiness to hide the slight redness in her cheeks.

"Where shall we meet you tomorrow?" she asked barely loud enough to be heard over the noise from the local crowd hurriedly finishing up the day's work to get home.

"Well," Guiness began, looking to his uncle, "We haven't got a particular ship worked out just yet. Normally the team would travel on the Lindblum, but it appearss she's already on her way to Costa Porti. At least that'ss what the guard told me, so it looks like the besst plan would be for you to meet us down at the dockss shortly after sunrisse. We'll need to catch an early ship, and we'll also need to be sure that they sstill have room for both the cart and uss aboard."

"Aww, do we have to be up so early?" Lani whined.

"'Fraid sso," Kerta replied with a chuckle.

After a few brief words of parting, the others rode on to an inn somewhere west near the docks while Mist, Lani, and Zan were left with their meagre belongings on the streets of their hometown. Together, they began walking towards their homes while their three destinations were still in the same direction. The crowds continued bustling like they always did at that time of day. The warm glow of sunset bathed the walls of houses and the faces of the city's people, with every shape and size represented on the busy streets. Tall Golems towering over Dwarves and Moogles, Viera easily seen in a crowd by their ears standing above the mass of heads, and even the occasional Fairy floating by.

The three friends soon found their way to quieter roads and alleys to make their walk easier. They discussed the day's journey, Meranim's lesson, and the occasional memory of their childhood when they passed a store or a spot where they used to play. The memories were unusually potent to Mist, as though she were trying harder to remember them now. Maybe she just wanted to distract herself. They were nearly at her house, after all.

"…And when Ms Nabaat caught us in the gym with all those balls, I knew we weren't getting away with it," Lani cut herself off as the three stopped in front of Mist's front door, "Well, alright. See you in the morning, Blue," Lani winked as she said that last part. Mist had never really hated her early school nickname, but she had not seen the need for everyone to call her a nickname that was just as long as her real name. It got irritating at times, and Lani had always known just when it would have an effect on Mist.

With a roll of her eyes, Mist hugged her best friend and bid her goodnight. She gave Zan an awkward hug as well, as always lingering slightly before wishing him goodnight too.

Mist watched her friends walk casually off in the direction of Zan's house, with Lani's place not far beyond that. She sighed as she stared one last time at the back of Zan's head, and then stepped inside.

"Mum? Dad? I'm home," she announced, barely closing the door before her parents were embracing her and demanding to know all the details of her adventures so far as they ushered her into the kitchen to feed her. Mist steeled herself, sat down, and started to explain.

* * *

Lani stood in front of her home, staring at the door with a look that said she was trying to make it disappear by sheer force of will. She remembered the night before leaving, and the morning after. Her mother had been willing to let her go once, but would she argue again this time? The streets were dark and empty around her, which was a small reassurance for the fact that it hid her from anyone who might see her in the unusual position of being truly afraid. Sure, her life had been in danger lately and she had faced down things that would have killed her given enough chance, but facing her mother was the one thing that really got her scared.

Taking one cautious step after another, Lani approached the door…

* * *

Zan lay in his room, his bag hung neatly by the door. His parents had fed him well between sentences as he'd told them about some of the things he'd seen and done. Of course, he left out a few things like being attacked by a giant desert-dwelling snake, and seeing an illusion of an ancient evil beast that may threaten the entire world. The sort of things that made parents worry about their children late at night.

He thought about where their adventure would take them next, what he should bring with him when he left in the morning, and then his thoughts lingered on his friend. Something had been wrong with her all day. He'd seen it in her eyes when she'd looked his way more than once. She'd been uncomfortable while they were walking home, but he hoped being in her room for a night and sleeping in her own bed might settle her nerves.

"I hope you're ok," he whispered, "Lani..."

* * *

. . .

What did he say? And yes, I am going to leave you there. I'm cruel like that. Yep, I leave for an entire year and when I come back, what have I got for you? A cliffhanger. Promise I'll get you the next chapter really soon. Possibly not too soon though as my GAMES DESIGN course has an assignment due soon. Yep, I'm actually studying to make video games. Who knows, maybe one day I'll make my own games that people will write fanfics about. One can only dream, I suppose.

I still don't own Final Fantasy. (Though I do have a copy of FFXIII. Note the 2 references, if you can. :D)

(PS. I've retconned a section of chapter 2 after realizing that I'd written something that was completely out of character for Lani's mother. Also, it really didn't fit with my narrative style, at least in my opinion, so basically I just cut a paragraph. Anyway, it's not a major change or anything, but it now preserves some plot points I've developed for later chapters.)


	26. Set Sail

Ok, so I know I said I wouldn't leave such a long time between updates again, but things got the better of me. I wish I could use "I've been busy with work" as an excuse and keep a straight face, but I haven't been spending much of my spare time actually working. I did for a lot of this past year, though. In fact, I finished a diploma in games development and later this year I'm hoping to start work on my very own game. Still haven't worked out the details yet, but if anything worthwhile comes out of it I'll post links in my profile page. For now, let's celebrate the 5th anniversary of Final Fantasy Omega with…

Chapter 26

The sound of gulls and the early morning bustle floated just outside Mist's window. The sun was still below the horizon but she forced herself to get up and gather her belongings as she had the last time she left home. Packing her things again brought back memories of that day.

"_Are you sure you have everything you need?" her mother asked, "Won't you be needing more food and water?"_

_"Zan and Lani are taking care of that," she replied. Mist stood by the door with her bag, ready to leave at any time yet hesitation still held her. She looked to her parents, standing together in front of her, and felt a sudden wash of emotion. She rushed to her parents and held her arms around them both._

"_I'll miss you," she whispered._

"_We'll miss you too, dear," her mother replied, "Just take care of yourself and we'll see you again soon."_

Today she would control herself. She had left and returned home once already, and although she understood the dangers she faced much clearer now than she had the first time, she didn't want her parents to see that. She didn't want them to worry that their daughter was leaving to face a creature that was, by all rights, a demigod, and if she weren't strong enough when the time came then she would most likely die.

With everything packed and ready, Mist gathered her bag and walked down to the kitchen. Once again, her parents had prepared her a farewell breakfast and were waiting for her at the table.

"We know you need to get going," said her father, looking up from his untouched plate, "But we couldn't let you go without a good meal."

Mist smiled, glad that they seemed happy to let her go as easily as the first time. Maybe she could at least make it through breakfast without crying.

* * *

Down by the docks, Mist waited for Zan with Lani, who had been there waiting for her when she arrived. Lani was almost bouncing with excitement about leaving. While waiting, she'd been going on and on about seeing the Blitzball tournament, even the possibility of meeting her cousin, who attended the tournament every year to cheer on the team from Troinia. Lani's cousin was a bit of a celebrity in the Blitzball world, being the striker from the five-time championship winning team from Troinia a few years back. No other team had ever managed such a streak.

"Have we spotted Guiness and the others yet?" Zan asked as he approached the girls.

"Mornin', sleepy head," Lani replied, "You're awfully late for, well, you."

"Not yet," Mist answered, "But they should be around here somewhere. Guiness is probably finding a ship for us to take."

The trio wandered towards the moored ships, looking for signs of their companions. The harbour was as busy as ever, with ships pulling in from overnight voyages and pulling out to start their daily fishing trips. Most vessels still sat moored to the many piers stretching out from the main dock and were preparing for their journey or simply waiting for passengers and cargo. Mist was walking just ahead of the other two when she heard something from the ship beside her.

"Well lookie who we have 'ere," called the familiar voice.

Mist looked up and saw the scruffy face of captain Cid staring down at the group, in somewhat cleaner looking clothes than the last time she recalled meeting the man. Instead of his weathered leather overcoat, he wore a neat, dark grey jacket left open to reveal a stained white shirt, which was probably the only one he owned. His plain leather tricorne hat was the same one she remembered from the first day she and her friends had met the captain at the tavern in Duntarine.

The Highwind, on the other hand, looked nothing like the dishevelled mess they had taken to Loxdue Island. Mist was in disbelief that Cid could have fixed the ship up so much in such a short time. The railings were all neat and polished, the sails looked new and the mast was taller than she thought it had been, the wood even looked smoother and less worn than before. It was unbelievable…

"Is that the Nightwind?" Zan asked from beside her.

"Not 'nymore," Cid replied, "Bought 'er after ya left. I made a mint with all them needles ya gave me."

Mist was a little embarrassed to have mistaken the ship for Cid's older vessel. The metallic letters of "Highwind" didn't all match. The "High" were the original letters from the Highwind, but the "wind" was left behind from the ship's previous name.

"I figured the least I could do was help ya out again. Free o' charge, too." Cid gestured along the side of the ship to the area of the pier where a crane was slowly lifting a cart onto the Highwind's deck. But not just any cart.

"G'morning kidss!" Guiness called to Mist and the others, "Apparently the captain is a friend of yours. Perfect timing catching him here thiss morning, if you ask me."

Mist, Lani, and Zan walked down the length of the somewhat larger ship and greeted their companions, who were busily making use of another new feature of Cid's vessel: a crew. Two human girls, a human man, an elf man, a young Bangaa, and an older Dwarven man were all carrying things onto the ship, tying and untying ropes, shifting planks and beams of wood, and generally running around quite fast with the occasional glance toward their captain.

The cart was now being swung sideways over the rails of the ship and onto the deck. Guiness had already made his way up to the deck while Mist and Lani were being given stern advice for future situations where they might find valuable medical supplies. Meranim had apparently learned about how Cid had acquired the Cactuar needles to pay for the ship and appeared less-than-pleased about not getting as many as a simple boat captain.

Zan, Kerta, and Rigby were simply standing by the ship, admiring the quality of the vessel compared to many of the others in port. The Highwind was only slightly smaller than the standard ferries that operated between most of the major ports, yet it had two sets of sails instead of a single massive one that the ferries had. The decks of the ferries were wider, mostly as a way to fit more cargo and passengers aboard, but also to stabilize the vessel with so much extra weight aboard. The Highwind, on the other hand, was narrower and probably a fair bit faster under decent sailing weather.

"C'mon!" Cid called to Mist and her friends, waving his arm as though he was sweeping them up the gangplank, "Get aboard!"

As Meranim moved to board the vessel, finally leaving the younger girls to recover, Mist shot a quick glance toward Zan. With his arms across his chest, the warm glow of the morning sun on his face, a look that Mist thought of as calm confidence, and a gentle sea breeze wafting in his hair, he looked like a hero from an epic tale, ready to head off on adventures across the sea. Perhaps, in a sense, he was. Mist's gaze lingered a little too long, and he caught her eye before she quickly turned back to Lani and, with only a little difficulty, gathered her friend to board the ship.

"I still don't know how neither of you has ever brought it up," Lani whispered.

"Shut up," Mist whispered back, cautiously looking over her shoulder at the three men following the girls onto the ship.

Once aboard, Mist took in the vast difference between this ship and the Highwind they had embarked on from Duntarine. The firmness of the deck under her feet made her realize how worried she should have been at the state of the older ship, and the neatness of it all was a huge contrast.

"We set sail as soon as the cargo's aboard!" Cid shouted across the deck, and was immediately met with a cry of, "Aye, cap'n!" from the crew.

The crane was finished lowering the cart into the cargo hold through a large open grate on the deck, and Storm and Thunder were being lead aboard by the two human crew-girls Mist had seen earlier. The rest of the crew seemed to be at the front of the vessel dealing with ropes or shouting to people on the dock. In all of the bustle, Mist eventually realized that she'd been standing in the same place just next to the gangplank since she walked aboard and hadn't even noticed where all her companions had gone.

After a quick scan of the deck, she soon spotted Lani waving to her from near a door at the stern of the ship that lead to what looked like a staircase. Dodging past the girls with the chocobos, Mist made her way over to Lani.

"Daydreaming, were we?" Lani asked in a mocking tone, bearing a sly grin.

"You know," Mist began, "Maybe my meekness has something to do with you always being mean to me," She finished by poking out her tongue, just to emphasize her point.

"Nah," Lani replied plainly, "You were adorably meek the day I met you, and you haven't changed."

Mist cocked her head and sighed, "You're right," she said eventually, "But blaming you makes me feel better about it."

Lani let out a brief laugh, "Blame away. You know I can take it," she replied with a wink.

* * *

The ocean was an amazing thing to behold, no signs of land in any direction and only the sound of feet running on deck, the wind, and the waves. Mist stood against the railings on the main deck, taking a break from the cramped space below. The new Highwind was a large ship and the passenger rooms were by no means small, but with Meranim teaching her, Lani, and Zan for a few hours, Guiness and Kerta using their room for blitzball strategizing, and the crew rushing in and out of storerooms to secure cargo containers, Mist needed a little space to just relax.

At the bow of the ship there was a long, empty space up a couple of steps from the rest of the deck. The sun was shining on it from only an hour or two above the horizon ahead and left a warm orange tint on everything it touched. The sea breeze flicked gently at Mist's hair but she barely noticed. Mist had rarely left the shores of Cyndaria, but she was looking forward to finally seeing the cerulean sphere of the blitzball stadium. The technology to create a blitzball sphere was ancient and lost since the time shortly after the Nine Sorcerers. As such, the only one still in operation was in Costa Porti. Teams from every city had to practice in deep pools instead, even the team from Costa Porti itself so as not to give them an unfair advantage. Ruins of an old blitzball stadium stood just east of Andandrea but many of the working parts needed to create the sphere of water were completely destroyed by age and disrepair. Only enough was known at all about how the machines worked to keep the one in Costa Porti in working condition.

Mist had never seen a real blitzball game before but sometimes, friendly matches would be held in the training pool in Andandrea and she and her friends had seen a few there. She'd been told that the experience was completely different at the real stadium, so Mist was rather excited to finally be going.

* * *

Zan stood at the back of the lower deck, resting against the wall beside the stairs leading to the helm. Cid was at the wheel, and although Zan's position didn't allow him to see what the captain was doing, he could hear quite clearly that crew members were still being ordered about for one insignificant thing or another. Cid had liked keeping himself busy with the operation of the old Highwind when he was operating it all by himself. Now that he had a crew, he seemed to delight in both handing out orders and making sure that they all kept busy with the little things he used to do himself. Zan imagined that some of the orders were not things that needed to be handled as often as the captain had requested them, but he stood out of the crew's way as they rushed past to check ropes, fasten knots, resecure cargo that had been secured in port, and other minor tasks.

At the bow of the ship he could see Mist leaning against the railing and staring off into the distance. From where Zan was standing, the setting sun sat just behind her head making her appear to glow as light flicked through her hair as it whipped in the breeze. She looked beautiful.

"Something on your mind?" Lani asked, wandering around the stairs from the other side of the ship.

"Just contemplating what we may find in Costa Porti," he replied.

"Like what? You think something crazy's going to happen there like in Sandros or Loxdue?" Lani winced as she said it.

"That would seem likely, given our luck," Zan answered, "If you expect the worst then any surprises won't be unpleasant ones."

"Unless it's the unpleasant surprise that your idea of the worst situation isn't as bad as things really could be," Lani quipped.

Zan tilted his head down and allowed a slight grin to crack his calmly serious exterior, "Ahh Lani," he laughed, "Always able to think of a way that things could be worse."

Lani smirked back at him, "It's a gift," she replied, "So, Meranim wants us back in the room for more lessons. Have you seen Mist?"

Zan began to walk past her towards the stairs leading down to their room below deck, "At the bow," he said over his shoulder, pointing towards the front of the ship without looking.

Lani followed his finger to Mist at the bow, then over to where Zan had been standing and back towards Mist again. She let out a small sigh and her smile gently faded as she wandered over to bring her friend back to their room.

* * *

Night had fallen early in the voyage as the ferry to Costa Porti made its way across the featureless ocean. The moon was almost full and shone brightly overhead while the two Chocoknights stood on deck finishing the last of their evening meal.

"We're not going to be there on time, are we?" Wedge asked his companion.

"At this rate, no," Biggs replied, "We'll do what we can when we get there. We should still be there in time for the opening match."

"It's a shame we won't get to see it," Wedge continued, "It's been a long time since I saw a blitzball match. And security detail just seems like a lame job for experienced Chocoknights."

"Well," Biggs mumbled, "We haven't been showing much of that experience lately."

The two men sighed and leaned heavily against the ship's railing.

Biggs looked over at his partner, "Guess we should get some sleep."

* * *

A small vessel arrived at the docks of Costa Porti in the dead of night. A large cloud covering the moon made the large torches lining the harbour the only sources of light. Shadows flickered across the deck where a hooded man stood waiting for the boat to reach the pier. A handful of men ran to cast lines to the vessel from the docks while 2 crew members leapt from the shadows of the boat to catch the ropes and tie them off. As soon as the small ship docked the hooded man disembarked and wandered away from the docks.

"Hold it!" a dockworker shouted, "You can't leave till you've registered your vessel."

The hooded figure stopped and turned, reaching inside his robe with a concealed hand and pulling it back out, still seemingly empty. He approached the dockworker and held his hand out. The dockworker, somewhat confused, offered out his hand to accept whatever the man was handing him. From the shadowy end of the man's sleeve fell a small pouch, heavy with coins.

"I trust this should cover the expense," the man spoke in a hushed, cold voice.

"Uhh, of course," the dockworker replied, pocketing the pouch cautiously, "Thank you, sir."

The hooded figure walked off into the dark city streets, still shrouded in his plain brown robe. His master wanted the search to be subtle. The sailors that brought him to this city would be gone by sunrise, and he had left no trace of his arrival. None must learn of what he searched for. Especially not those children.

* * *

. . .

Not a lot going on there, I know, but I'm getting back into the swing of things and for the time being I have a heap of free time, so I'm going to bunker down over the next week or two and see just how much I can write so you can definitely expect a few more chapters in the very near future. I've missed this story! It's good to be back. I still don't own Final Fantasy.

On an unrelated note, apparently a lot of my formatting has been removed and I have no idea why, so I've gone back and replaced every chapter with a properly formatted version. -_- It's given me an appreciation for the number of times I've apologized for not updating more frequently though. I shall try to learn from my mistakes, but I don't want to make another promise I may not keep.


End file.
